US President-elect Donald Trump is suing an Iowa newspaper and a pollster that published an incorrect prediction that his Democratic rival Kamala Harris would win the state election, news agencies reported. Trump accuses the newspaper and the pollster of interfering in the election.
Trump's move, which was widely reported in the US yesterday, is seen as the latest warning shot to the media and journalists about what may await them in his second term, DPA notes.
Over the weekend, one of the largest media outlets, “ABC News“ (ABC News), agreed to pay $15 million in a defamation lawsuit against TV host George Stephanopoulos. In an interview with Trump earlier this year, Stephanopoulos incorrectly referred to a rape conviction in a case involving author E. Jean Carroll. Trump has actually been found liable in a civil lawsuit for “sexual assault.” The court ruled that Trump owed Carroll $88.3 million in two lawsuits, but he appealed both claims.
The settlement with ABC News has drawn sharp criticism from inside and outside the media, with many arguing that the network should not have agreed to the settlement because of the strong protections for free speech in the U.S. Constitution under the First Amendment.
In an op-ed written by the Washington Post editorial board and published on Monday, the authors called ABC News’ decision “a “unreasonably accommodating“.
“ABC News“ will never overcome this capitulation. Never“, the authors of the article write.
In the Iowa lawsuit filed on Monday, Trump accused the newspaper, its parent company “Gannett“ and respected pollster Ann Seltzer and her firm of “blatant election interference“, which he said was “intentional”, the American media reported, quoted by DPA.
Seltzer's survey showed Harris ahead of Trump by 47 percent to 44 percent. The survey was published a few days before the vote. Trump ultimately won Iowa by about 13 percentage points.
During his campaign, Trump repeatedly dismissed polls that did not show him as the winner as "fake."