President Donald Trump on Monday moved his lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer from federal court to state court, We Are Iowa reports.
Trump filed the suit last year for "brazen election interference" over a poll published days before the 2024 election.
The Nov. 2 poll suggested Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic Party nominee, would win Iowa. Trump carried Iowa by 13 percentage points.
The lawsuit alleges Selzer intentionally swung the poll results in favor of Harris.
"The Harris poll was no 'miss' but rather an attempt to influence the outcome of the 2024 presidential election," the lawsuit reads.
Bob Corn-Revere, chief counsel of the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression, which is representing Selzer, called the move "procedural gamesmanship."
"This maneuver was not in response to any settlement and is a transparent attempt to avoid federal court review of the president's transparently frivolous claims," he said, according to The Hill.
Attorneys for the Register and Selzer are trying to keep the suit in federal court.
"President Trump's present Notice of Voluntary Removal would effectively escape the jurisdiction of the federal courts in time to restate his claims in Iowa's state court without being subject to Iowa's anti-SLAPP law," they wrote in a motion to strike Trump's dismissal.
Solange Reyner ✉
Solange Reyner is a writer and editor for Newsmax. She has more than 15 years in the journalism industry reporting and covering news, sports and politics.