President-elect Donald Trump on Monday said he planned to sue The Des Moines Register for an Ann Selzer election poll that proved to be wrong, and floated the possibility of more lawsuits to go after influencers and newspapers after his ABC News defamation settlement.
“I want to expand on defamation lawsuits,” a reporter asked Trump at an unrelated news conference. “Could you see moving that to other people with individual platforms, social media influencers — ”
“Or newspapers,” Trump interjected. “Yeah. Oh, I do. I do. I think you have to do it because they’re very dishonest. We need a great media. We need a fair media.”
Trump’s comments came after ABC News on Friday settled the incoming president’s defamation lawsuit against the network and agreed to donate $15 million to Trump’s future presidential foundation and museum and to pay $1 million for his legal fees. Trump had sued earlier this year over ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos saying on air in March that Trump was found liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll. Trump had been found liable for sexually abusing Carroll. Stephanopoulos and the network also had to publish an apology.
Trump has often sued news outlets, accusing them of defamation, but his efforts have not usually gone anywhere. In this lawsuit, he argued Stephanopoulos harmed his reputation with his statement on his “This Week” news program.
But, as a president, Trump has a high bar — actual malice or “reckless disregard for the truth” — to prove he is defamed or libeled (published defamation). Critics have thus slammed the settlement as ABC News capitulating to Trump at a time when the media are accused of normalizing Trump and as he has promised to go after the press.
Trump, meanwhile, said he plans to sue The Des Moines Register, arguing Selzer’s poll amounted to “fraud and ... election interference.” He previously called for an investigation of the poll, which, released days before the election, had Democrat Kamala Harris up 47-44% among likely voters in Iowa. Seltzer’s poll ended up missing the mark by 16 percentage points, as Trump comfortably won the swing state. It is not clear what kind of lawsuit Trump could file, and what harm he could show he suffered, based on the poll.
