Lawyers for the Des Moines Register on Monday described Donald Trump as a “sore winner” in a court filing calling for the dismissal of a lawsuit the president brought over a pre-election poll conducted by veteran pollster J. Ann Selzer that showed him trailing his rival, former Vice President Kamala Harris in Iowa.

The brief, filed by lawyers for the Register and its parent company, Gannett — two of the defendants in the case — described Trump’s case against them as meritless.

“The President of the United States, Donald J. Trump, brings this lawsuit ostensibly to ‘seek [ ] accountability’ for alleged ‘election interference’; but instead, his lawsuit only confirms that President Trump is a sore winner,” the brief states.

Trump’s lawsuit against the newspaper stemmed from a Nov. 2 poll conducted by Selzer and published in the Register, which showed Harris 3 percentage points ahead of him in Iowa — a state he ended up winning comfortably three days later by over 13 percentage points. Trump claimed the outlier poll amounted to “brazen election interference,” claiming that Selzer and the newspaper orchestrated the result to benefit his Democratic rival.

But lawyers for the Register and Gannett argued that “there is no legal basis for President Trump to obtain the relief he seeks; indeed, such relief would violate free speech principles.”

“President Trump attempts to punish press coverage of which he disapproves through tortured application of the Iowa Consumer Fraud Act, as well as through frivolous tort claims for fraudulent misrepresentation and
negligent misrepresentation,” the brief states.

“If he had his way, such claims would become weapons for any political candidate to challenge any press coverage they do not like,” it continues.

Trump’s lawsuit, which was filed in December, over a month after he won the 2024 presidential race, names the Register, Gannett, Selzer and her polling firm, Selzer & Company, as defendants.

Separately, lawyers for Selzer and her polling company also called for the lawsuit to be dismissed in a brief filed Friday, describing the complaint as “fatally flawed on every level.”

“In the United States there is no such thing as a claim for ‘fraudulent news,’” the filing states. “No court in any jurisdiction has ever held such a cause of action might be valid, and few plaintiffs have ever attempted to bring such outlandish claims. Those who have were promptly dismissed.”

Following the election, Selzer, who has defended her work, announced she is ending her polling career to take on new opportunities. She noted that she had informed the Register of her decision not to renew her contract over a year ago.