A federal judge determined on Friday that President Donald Trump wrongly included an Iowa congresswoman and a former state senator in his lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster J. Ann Selzer. The inclusion allegedly aimed to undermine the court’s authority and maintain the case’s local status.

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks and former Iowa state Sen. Brad Zaun joined the lawsuit with Trump against Selzer, the newspaper, and its parent company, Gannett, in late January. They alleged damage caused by a poll released before the 2024 presidential election, which indicated a narrow lead for Vice President Kamala Harris—a race that Trump eventually won.

The poll, which was conducted by Selzer, was released three days before the election and it predicted that Harris had about a three-point lead in Iowa over then-candidate Trump, who went on to win the state by about 13 points. Trump filed suit in December under an Iowa law against “consumer fraud” — accusing Selzer and the Register of being in cahoots with “cohorts in the Democrat Party” who “hoped that the Harris Poll would create a false narrative of inevitability for Harris in the final week of the 2024 Presidential Election,” according to the complaint.

Trump’s suit accuses the defendants of committing “brazen election interference” through use of the allegedly “manipulated” poll to “deceive voters.” It was initially filed in Iowa state court before being moved to federal court in mid-December.

On Jan. 31, Trump filed an amended complaint to add Miller-Meeks and Zaun before filing a motion on Feb. 21 to have the case remanded back to state court. Trump’s lawyers argued that adding the Iowa-based plaintiffs meant the case must be returned to state court.

U.S. District Judge Rebecca Goodgame Ebinger disagreed, ruling Friday in an 11-page order that the pair be “terminated as plaintiffs” while denying Trump’s motion to return the case to Iowa state court.

“Plaintiffs provide no legitimate rationale for Zaun and Miller-Meeks to join a federal lawsuit only to immediately move to remand,” Ebinger said. “Zaun and Miller-Meeks could have sued defendants in state court without fear of removal. Thus, the only apparent reason to have joined Trump’s lawsuit is to destroy diversity jurisdiction.”

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Trump is seeking relief in the form of damages and a court order to prevent the newspaper from publishing any future “deceptive polls” that might “poison the electorate.”

The Register argues that even the relief being sought by the president would be unconstitutional. The newspaper also claims the fraud law under which Trump is suing has no place in a legal action over allegations of election interference. The law is meant to punish unfair, deceptive, or fraudulent conduct “in connection with the advertisement, sale, or lease of consumer merchandise, or the solicitation of contributions for charitable purposes.”

In her ruling on Miller-Meeks and Zaun, Ebinger — a Barack Obama appointee — said Friday that Trump “almost certainly knew” of the pair before filing suit.

“Though Trump added the two as co-plaintiffs in the amended complaint less than two months after initially filing the underlying petition, Trump fails to provide a reason why the three did not initially file a petition together,” Ebinger said.

The president’s lawyers had argued that successful attempts by Gannett to get the case moved to federal court were improper “snap removals,” which is when a party removes a case before a forum defendant has officially been served, per Ebinger.

The Southern District judge noted, however, how such moves have been found legal by appellate courts. “Plaintiffs argue snap removal is invalid because it goes against Congress’s intent and encourages defendants to ‘hawk’ state-court dockets,” Ebinger said, before declaring the procedure “valid and appropriate.”