{"id":2387705,"date":"2025-01-08T07:56:02","date_gmt":"2025-01-08T12:56:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/incorrect-iowa-pollster-newspaper-face-another-fraud-lawsuit\/"},"modified":"2025-01-08T07:59:56","modified_gmt":"2025-01-08T12:59:56","slug":"incorrect-iowa-pollster-newspaper-face-another-fraud-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/incorrect-iowa-pollster-newspaper-face-another-fraud-lawsuit\/","title":{"rendered":"Incorrect Iowa Pollster, Newspaper Face Another Fraud Lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">16<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Fincorrect-iowa-pollster-newspaper-face-another-fraud-lawsuit%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2387705&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>J. Ann Selzer, \u2064previously regarded as a leading pollster in \u200bAmerican \u200cpolitics, is facing legal challenges due to a controversial pre-election poll that inaccurately indicated Vice President Kamala Harris was leading\u2063 Donald Trump by three\u2062 points in Iowa, a state known for its conservative leanings.\u200b The actual election results showed Trump defeating Harris by 13 points.The poll, conducted by Selzer\u2064 &#038; Co. for the Des Moines Register, is considered an\u2064 &#8220;outlier,&#8221; leading Trump to file\u200b a lawsuit alleging\u2062 &#8220;brazen election \u2064interference&#8221; adn violations of Iowa&#8217;s Consumer Fraud Act, claiming the poll was intended to mislead voters and\u2062 create\u2063 a false narrative of Harris&#8217;s \u2064inevitability.<\/p>\n<p>In a related lawsuit, the Center for American Rights is representing a Des Moines \u2062Register subscriber who\u200b claims \u200dthe misleading poll damaged\u200b public perception and \u200btrust in the \u200celectoral process. Their lawsuit\u2063 aims for <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/sesame-place-hit-with-25-million-racial-discrimination-lawsuit-after-alleged-snub-from-costumed-character-goes-viral\/\" title=\"Sesame Place Hit With  Million Racial Discrimination Lawsuit After Alleged Snub From Costumed Character Goes Viral\">class action status<\/a> on behalf\u2062 of all Register subscribers, asserting that the poll\u200d was\u200d not just an\u2062 honest mistake\u200d but\u2064 intentionally deceptive.<\/p>\n<p>In response,\u2062 representatives \u2063for Selzer and \u200cthe\u200b Des Moines \u2062Register \u2064defend the integrity of the poll,\u2062 arguing that unexpected results do\u200b not equate to fraud. They \u200dassert\u200c the poll&#8217;s publication was \u2063necessary to inform\u200d the\u200c public, emphasizing their commitment to\u200d First amendment rights amidst claims of their work being misleading. Debate continues over \u200cwhether the \u2064poll&#8217;s \u200doutcome stemmed from a genuine error or a manipulated \u200deffort to mislead voters,\u2064 highlighting the significant implications of \u200cpolling accuracy\u2064 in\u200b political contexts.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Once deemed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigspeak.com\/speakers\/j-ann-selzer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;the &lsquo;it&rsquo; pollster of American politics,&rdquo;<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/jaselzer?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">J. Ann Selzer<\/a> and her firm are facing another lawsuit over an exceptionally bad <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/11\/06\/ann-selzers-wrong-pollster-who-saw-harris-winning-red-iowa-misses-bigly\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pre-election poll<\/a> showing Vice President Kamala Harris leading Donald Trump by 3 percentage points &mdash; in blood red Iowa.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump walloped Harris by 13 points <a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/projects\/election-results-2024\/iowa\/?r=0\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">(56% to 43%<\/a>) on his way to easily winning a second nonconsecutive presidential term a la <a href=\"https:\/\/www.whitehouse.gov\/about-the-white-house\/presidents\/grover-cleveland\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Grover Cleveland<\/a>. Critics called into question the motivation of the 16-point &ldquo;outlier&rdquo; Iowa poll, conducted by West Des Moines-based <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Selzer_&amp;_Company\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Selzer &amp; Co.<\/a> for the Des Moines Register newspaper published just three days before November&rsquo;s election.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump late last month <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nbcnews.com\/politics\/2024-election\/trump-files-suit-iowa-pollster-ann-selzer-des-moines-register-newspap-rcna184494\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">sued<\/a> Selzer, her polling firm, the Des Moines Register and its Goliath corporate media parent, Gannett Co. Inc. in Polk County, Iowa, alleging <a href=\"https:\/\/fortune.com\/2024\/12\/18\/trump-sues-des-moines-register-pollster-election-interference-poll-losing-iowa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;brazen election interference.&rdquo;<\/a> That lawsuit charges that the defendants &ldquo;and their cohorts in the Democrat Party&rdquo; hoped that the final Des Moines Register\/Mediacom Iowa Poll of the campaign season &ldquo;would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election.&rdquo; In short, the complaint charges, the pollster and the paper violated <a href=\"https:\/\/www.legis.iowa.gov\/docs\/code\/714H.pdf\">Iowa&rsquo;s Consumer Fraud Act<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Attorneys for the defendants <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/news\/politics\/2024\/12\/17\/donald-trump-lawsuit-gannett-des-moines-register-iowa-election-poll\/77051510007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">say<\/a> they will &ldquo;vigorously defend the First Amendment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>They&rsquo;re on the defense again.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Flat-out, Epically, Recklessly Wrong&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>On Tuesday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanrights.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Center for American Rights <\/a>(CAR) filed a similar <a href=\"https:\/\/drive.google.com\/file\/d\/1qulwPf6sw3M4oykfRAwdABJG5nzmJttR\/view\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">lawsuit<\/a>, also in Polk County District Court, alleging that &ldquo;the misleading polling results deceived consumers, distorted public perception, and undermined confidence in the electoral process.&rdquo; The complaint, filed on behalf of Iowa resident and Des Moines Register subscriber Dennis Donnelly, seeks class action certification on behalf of all subscribers to Iowa&rsquo;s largest newspaper.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Daniel Suhr, president of CAR, told The Federalist in an interview Tuesday that his public interest law firm&rsquo;s lawsuit expands on President-elect Trump&rsquo;s claims &ldquo;to include damages for subscribers misled by the recklessly published polling.&rdquo; He said there&rsquo;s a difference between the media making honest mistakes and being intentionally misleading. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;We need to put an end to the idea that there are no victims when news organizations engage in these things,&rdquo; said Suhr, whose Chicago-based firm has filed <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/12\/06\/trumps-fcc-must-smash-corporate-medias-censorship-cartel\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">complaints<\/a> against other corporate media outlets claiming they have influenced and interfered in the election. &ldquo;Our client pays good money to buy a product and the product that the Des Moines Register promises is the news, fair and accurate news. The company didn&rsquo;t deliver on that promise.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Register promised integrity and accuracy but instead delivered the dictionary definition of fake news,&rdquo; the attorney said in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.americanrights.org\/cases\/subscribers-sue-des-moines-register-over-fake-news-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">press release<\/a>. &ldquo;The poll wasn&rsquo;t just wrong &mdash; it was flat-out, epically, recklessly wrong. In doing so, they defrauded every subscriber who paid for trustworthy reporting.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;In No Way Fraudulent or Misleading&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>Reached for comment Tuesday, Nick Kleinfeld, legal counsel for The Des Moines Register, said the newspaper and Gannett were reviewing CAR&rsquo;s &ldquo;frivolous, copy-cat lawsuit.&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;This is the latest in disturbing attempts&nbsp;to pervert consumer protection laws to suppress political speech protected by the First Amendment,&rdquo; Kleinfeld said in an email response to The Federalist.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The attorney called the results of Selzer&rsquo;s poll &ldquo;unexpected,&rdquo; but &ldquo;in no way fraudulent or misleading&rdquo; to the Register&rsquo;s subscribers. Failing to report the results of the wildly off poll would have been the real disservice to the newspaper&rsquo;s readers, Kleinfeld said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The Des Moines Register and Gannett will vigorously defend this baseless lawsuit in order to stand up for speech protected by the First Amendment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Oracle of Iowa&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>The poll was Selzer&rsquo;s swan song of her &ldquo;life&rsquo;s work.&rdquo; This swan had a bad case of the bird flu. Nearly two weeks after the election, after her bold claim that Harris &ldquo;leapfrogs Donald Trump to take the lead near Election Day,&rdquo; Selzer posted a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/2024\/11\/17\/ann-selzer-conducts-iowa-poll-ending-election-polling-moving-to-other-opportunities\/76334909007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">farewell column<\/a> in the newspaper that has published her polls for decades. She was leaving her &ldquo;life&rsquo;s work&rdquo; for &ldquo;other ventures and opportunities.&rdquo; She claimed that she had informed the Register that she would not renew her contract after it expired with the early November poll.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>What a way to go out &mdash; projecting that a far-left Democrat incumbent had a bigger-than-swing-state lead in a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/news\/politics\/elections\/2024\/11\/04\/iowa-poll-whens-the-last-time-ia-went-blue-past-democrats-election-results-kamala-harris\/76042468007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">conservative state<\/a> that has solidly backed Trump and fellow Republicans for the better part of the past decade. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Would I have liked to make this announcement after a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/ann-selzer-announces-retirement-from-election-polling-after-iowa-strikeout-washington-examiner\/\" title=\"Ann Selzer announces retirement from election polling after Iowa strikeout - Washington Examiner\">final poll aligned<\/a> with Election Day results? Of course.&#8239; It&rsquo;s ironic that it&rsquo;s just the opposite,&rdquo; Selzer <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/2024\/11\/17\/ann-selzer-conducts-iowa-poll-ending-election-polling-moving-to-other-opportunities\/76334909007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote <\/a>in the Register column.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Ironic <\/em>doesn&rsquo;t seem a big enough word.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Many members of the fawning corporate media have described Selzer&rsquo;s work as the &ldquo;gold standard&rdquo; of polling. She&rsquo;s lauded for her accuracy in predicting winners in the first-in-the-nation caucus state. A real Nostradamus of political polling, her fans might tell you. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Every four years, J. Ann Selzer is the &lsquo;it&rsquo; pollster of American politics &hellip; Time and again, her polls stood alone as the best measure of what happened on Election Day,&rdquo; proclaims Selzer&rsquo;s bio on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bigspeak.com\/speakers\/j-ann-selzer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> of BigSpeak, a motivational speaker booking agency. As the site notes, Selzer has been referred to as &ldquo;Queen Ann,&rdquo; the &ldquo;Princess of Polling,&rdquo; and the &ldquo;Duchess of Data.&rdquo; FiveThirtyEight.com dubbed her <a href=\"https:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/selzer\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">&ldquo;the Best Pollster in Politics.&rdquo;<\/a>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>So then how did the &ldquo;oracle of Iowa&rdquo; get her final presidential poll &mdash; just three days before the election &mdash; so wrong?&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Selzer&rsquo;s review of her own poll, published in the Register on the same day she wrote her Old Pollsters Never Die column, showed &ldquo;no likely single culprit has emerged to explain the wide disparity,&rdquo; the newspaper&rsquo;s Carol Hunter <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/opinion\/columnists\/from-the-editor\/2024\/11\/17\/editors-update-what-a-review-of-the-pre-election-iowa-poll-has-found\/76300644007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The piece seemed more of a defense of Selzer, the Register and the 80-year-old Iowa poll than an explanation of what went wrong, noting how thoroughly Selzer checked her work.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Thank you for reading and for caring about the accuracy of information you consume,&rdquo; Hunter, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/staff\/2683988001\/carol-hunter\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">recently retired <\/a>as <a href=\"https:\/\/www.kcci.com\/article\/des-moines-register-top-editor-carol-hunter-retiring\/63172924\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">executive editor<\/a> of the newspaper, wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;What are the Odds&rsquo;?<\/h2>\n<p>On Tuesday, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression <\/a>(FIRE) <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/news\/fire-defend-veteran-pollster-j-ann-selzer-trump-lawsuit-over-outlier-election-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">announced<\/a> it will represent Selzer in a what it calls Trump&rsquo;s &ldquo;meritless&rdquo; lawsuit that &ldquo;violates long-standing constitutional principles.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>FIRE takes aim at the lawsuit&rsquo;s use of Iowa&rsquo;s consumer fraud law, which targets sellers who make false claims to move merchandise. A FIRE official could not be reached for comment Tuesday evening, but the nonprofit known for its free speech battles on college campuses issued a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.thefire.org\/news\/fire-defend-veteran-pollster-j-ann-selzer-trump-lawsuit-over-outlier-election-poll\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">statement<\/a> about Trump&rsquo;s complaint.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Punishing someone for their political prediction is about as unconstitutional as it gets,&rdquo; said FIRE chief counsel Bob Corn-Revere. &ldquo;This is America. No one should be afraid to predict the outcome of an election. Whether it&rsquo;s from a pollster, or you, or me, such political expression is fully and unequivocally protected by the First Amendment.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>But the First Amendment is no shield against &ldquo;wrong and reckless&rdquo; reporting to influence the outcome of an election, Suhr said. As <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan.institute\/person\/james-piereson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">James Piereson<\/a>, senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, <a href=\"https:\/\/newcriterion.com\/dispatch\/statistical-questions-about-the-iowa-poll\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">wrote<\/a> in The New Criterion, the debate &mdash; and now the legal arguments &mdash; comes down to a basic question: &ldquo;Was the Iowa poll an honest error, or one manipulated to achieve a foreordained result?&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;Put differently: what are the odds of finding an honest sample of Iowa voters that showed Harris with a lead of three points when the actual result was a thirteen-point victory for her opponent? Those odds are slim to none,&rdquo; wrote <a href=\"https:\/\/manhattan.institute\/person\/james-piereson\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Piereson<\/a>, who formerly taught political theory at Iowa State University.<\/p>\n<p>The Des Moines Register poll, which missed the actual outcome of the Iowa presidential vote by 16 points, had a margin of error of plus or minus 3.4 percent, &ldquo;or by as many as five standard deviations from the true result as revealed on election day,&rdquo; according to the lawsuit.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;What are the odds of drawing such a sample by legitimate means? Answer: roughly one time in 3.5 million trials,&rdquo; Piereson asserts. &ldquo;In other words, given these odds, the results in the Iowa poll likely did not come about by &lsquo;honest error.&rsquo;&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Can Harris Win Iowa?&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>As the research fellow notes, the poll suggested Harris was doing exceptionally well among women voters and was leading by 28 points among independent women and by 35 points with women over 65.<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The poll gave heart to the Harris campaign and caused concern among Trump supporters. It was taken in some quarters as a sign that Harris might pull off a surprising victory on election day due to a surge of support among female voters,&rdquo; Piereson wrote.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The headline on MSNBC&rsquo;s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/ana-cabrera-reports\/watch\/can-harris-win-iowa-surprising-iowa-poll-shows-vp-in-the-lead-over-trump-223498821664\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">website<\/a> screamed, &ldquo;Can Harris win Iowa? Surprising Iowa poll shows VP in the lead over Trump.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;It could be an outlier poll, but just to emphasize &hellip; the reason we&rsquo;re talking about it, this kind of poll, the Des Moines Register poll, has correctly predicted Iowa&rsquo;s presidential results in every race since 2008,&rdquo; the <a href=\"https:\/\/amzn.to\/3YuVZYV\">left-wing news outlet&#038;rsquo<\/a>;s giddy anchor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.msnbc.com\/ana-cabrera-reports\/watch\/can-harris-win-iowa-surprising-iowa-poll-shows-vp-in-the-lead-over-trump-223498821664\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">said<\/a> at the time.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>At ABC News, the <a href=\"https:\/\/abcnews.go.com\/Politics\/poll-showing-harris-iowa-throws-monkey-wrench-election\/story?id=115463596\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">headline<\/a> read: &ldquo;Poll showing Harris up in Iowa throws &lsquo;monkey wrench&rsquo; into election prognosis: Expert.&rdquo; Maybe, just maybe, said expert suggested, the Register poll indicted something happening in the critical swing states to bolster Harris&rsquo; chances.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;There aren&rsquo;t many people who think Donald Trump is going to suddenly lose the state that he won by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cnn.com\/election\/2020\/results\/state\/iowa\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">eight points [in 2020]<\/a>, but it might indicate some of the weakness he has with voters in other states, including Wisconsin and Michigan,&rdquo; said Rick Klein, ABC News Washington bureau chief and political director, responding to the poll.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>There was no weakness. Trump swept all seven swing states on his way to a definitive electoral college victory.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2>&lsquo;Was This Intentional?&rsquo;<\/h2>\n<p>&ldquo;It&rsquo;s hard for anybody to say they saw this coming,&rdquo; Selzer told the Des Moines Register about her poll findings in early November. &ldquo;She [Harris] has clearly leaped into the leading position.&rdquo;<\/p>\n<p>She &mdash; Harris &mdash; clearly had not. Nobody saw &ldquo;this&rdquo; coming, because Selzer had produced a poll that even the outliers must have scoffed at. Her attorneys and the lawyers for the Register assert there was nothing wilful or reckless about Selzer&rsquo;s poll. Discovery will tell, Suhr said.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&ldquo;The First Amendment is very clear. It doesn&rsquo;t protect intentional or reckless fraud by media organizations,&rdquo; The Center for American Rights attorney said. &ldquo;We&rsquo;re going to find out in the discovery process, was this intentional? Did anyone raise red flags? Were those people steamrolled? Those are all the questions that the subscribers and the American people deserve answered?&rdquo;&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The lawsuits will have to make it past motions to dismiss first. Gannett has successfully sought to move the lawsuit to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.desmoinesregister.com\/story\/news\/crime-and-courts\/2024\/12\/18\/trump-lawsuit-des-moines-register-gannett-iowa-election-poll-federal-court\/77066847007\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal court in Iowa<\/a>. &nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Trump is coming off a huge legal victory against corporate media. <a href=\"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/2024\/12\/15\/trump-hating-abc-settles-defamation-case-with-15-million-payment-to-trump-library\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">ABC will cut a check for $15 million <\/a>to Trump&rsquo;s presidential library fund to bail out big-mouth anchor George Stephanopoulos for his false assertions that Trump had been found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll, according to the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.courtlistener.com\/docket\/68351681\/58\/1\/trump-v-american-broadcasting-companies-inc\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">terms of the settlement<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Matt Kittle is a senior elections correspondent for The Federalist. An award-winning investigative reporter and 30-year veteran of print, broadcast, and online journalism, Kittle previously served as the executive director of Empower Wisconsin.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>J. Ann Selzer, once a top pollster, faces lawsuits over a flawed Iowa poll showing Harris ahead of Trump by 3 points; Trump won by 13<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":656,"featured_media":2387706,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-08-at-3.26.34-AM.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[48111,48113,45225,36829,48112],"class_list":["post-2387705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-fraud-lawsuit","tag-incorrect-polling","tag-iowa-pollster","tag-media-accountability","tag-newspaper-controversy"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/Screenshot-2025-01-08-at-3.26.34-AM.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/656"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2387705"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387705\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2387709,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2387705\/revisions\/2387709"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2387706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2387705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2387705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2387705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}