Trump says he plans to sue Iowa newspaper over Selzer poll

Donald Trump said he plans to sue an Iowa newspaper that printed an outlier election poll that showed Vice President and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris ahead in the state by 3 points. 

Trump spoke public for the first time Monday since winning the presidency. He announced from Mar-a-Lago a $100 billion investment from SoftBank Group, a Japanese technology group, into U.S. projects over the next four years. 

He spoke briefly about the investment alongside Softbank’s CEO Masayoshi Son, and then took questions from reporters for nearly an hour. 

U.S. President-elect Donald Trump speaks at a news conference at Trumps Mar-a-Lago resort on December 16, 2024 in Palm Beach, Florida. (Photo by Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)

When asked about ABC News’ recent settlement in the defamation lawsuit, he said he could see himself moving forward with defamation lawsuits to other people and platforms. 

Trump hinted at several other lawsuits he was considering, including ones against "60 Minutes", Pulitzer and the Iowa newspaper that printed J. Ann Selzer’s headline-grabbing poll in the days leading up to the election. 

Here is what to know about the poll:

J. Ann Selzer Iowa poll

A highly anticipated election poll from J. Ann Selzer, the "gold standard" pollster in Iowa, was printed in The Des Moines Register on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2024, showing Kamala Harris beating Donald Trump by 3 points in the Hawkeye State.

The poll was an outlier, and Trump ultimately won the state by a 13-point margin, winning 56% of the vote to Harris’ 42.7%.

READ MORE: Here it is: The final 2024 electoral map

Last month, Selzer announced she was ending her election polling. 

"Polling is a science of estimation, and science has a way of periodically humbling the scientist," she wrote. 

On Monday, Trump said he felt the back-and-forth of the polling printed in the newspaper was "fraud" and "election interference."

"She's a very good pollster. She knows what she was doing and she didn't quit before. And we'll probably be filing a major lawsuit against them today or tomorrow," Trump said. 

READ MORE: Veteran pollster Ann Selzer ending election polling after 'big miss' in Iowa survey

ABC News Trump defamation lawsuit

Last week, ABC News agreed to give $15 million towards Donald Trump’s presidential library to settle a defamation lawsuit. 

The defamation lawsuit involved a "This Week" segment with anchor George Stephanopoulos that aired on March 10, 2024.

In the segment, Stephanopoulos made an inaccurate on-air assertion that the president-elect had been found civilly liable for raping writer E. Jean Carroll.

Stephanopoulos claimed during an interview with Rep. Nancy Mace, R-S.C. on that day that Trump had been "found liable for rape," which misstated the verdicts in Carroll's two lawsuits against Trump. Neither verdict involved a finding of rape as defined under New York law.

Trump sued Stephanopoulos and the network for defamation soon after the segment aired.

As part of the defamation settlement, ABC News agreed to pay $15 million toward Donald Trump’s presidential library that will be marked as a "charitable contribution."

READ MORE: ABC, Trump settle defamation lawsuit

Call for "a fair media"

When referencing the settlement and hinting at other possible lawsuits, Trump said he’s doing it because America needs "a fair media."

"I feel I have to do this. I shouldn't really be the one to do it; it should have been Justice Department or somebody else. But, I have to do it," he said. "It costs a lot of money to do it, but we have to straighten out the press."