U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche defended the Justice Department’s decision to file a lawsuit to block the certification of Republican defeat in Alaska’s close Senate race.
On Sunday, Blanche toured U.S. morning political shows and also stopped by CNN’s State of the Union TV show and CBS’ Face the Nation.
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At each court appearance, he faced pointed questions about the legality of the Justice Department’s efforts, sometimes with open dissatisfaction.
“Why is this so controversial?” Blanche asked CNN host Dana Bash at one point. He went on to accuse one of the Senate candidates of intentionally trying to confuse voters.
“We’re going to try to create a situation where we can improve it,” he said. “It shouldn’t be what causes this shock and horror.”
But the Justice Department’s lawsuit, filed Oct. 22, has been the subject of bipartisan criticism.
Many have accused President Donald Trump’s administration of plotting to prevent Democrats from winning the election. Trump himself claimed to have approved the lawsuit.
“I told them to do it,” he told reporters Friday.
Inside the Alaska Senate race
In the Nov. 3 midterm elections, Alaskans will vote in the closest U.S. Senate races in the country, which will help determine whether Republicans retain their majority in the House.
Incumbent Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is defending his seat in the U.S. Senate. But he faces stiff competition from former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola, a Democrat.
Dan J. Sullivan, a former Forest Service employee, is also running.
The second candidate, Sullivan’s decision to run, has raised concerns that he is a spoiler candidate and that his presence on the ballot is intended to draw votes away from the incumbent.
However, forest department officials denied any such intention. He said such claims were “absolutely false.”
“I am not a registered Democrat and have not had any conversations with the Peltola campaign regarding my candidacy,” Sullivan wrote in a letter to Alaska’s lieutenant governor before the state’s primary.
“I have considered running for political office for more than a decade. I have decided to formally run for U.S. Senate in the upcoming primary election because Sen. Sullivan has consistently failed the people of Alaska and they deserve better representation. It is my right to do so.”
After the Alaska primary in August, four candidates advanced to the final vote. Among them were Messrs. Peltola and Sullivan. Both are running as Republicans.
controversial lawsuit
The Justice Department said the lawsuit, filed less than two weeks before the midterm elections, was necessary “to protect the integrity” of the election.
The paper claims that any results of the Senate race will be “tainted by the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan on the ballot.”
The department therefore asked the U.S. District Court for Alaska to declare the certification of the race “unlawful” and to issue an order prohibiting the state from “permitting any such certification.”
Under the U.S. Constitution, only states have the power to administer elections, but Congress has the right to pass federal voting regulations.
It is highly unusual for a presidential administration to intervene in the certification of a state election, and experts say such a move would likely be considered illegal.
Already in June, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that the Sullivans could run for the Senate. State election officials are also taking steps to reduce voter confusion.
For example, incumbent Dan S. Sullivan will be listed as a “registered Republican” on the Nov. 3 ballot.
Dan J. Sullivan, on the other hand, will have the suffix “Junior” added to his name and leave his party affiliation blank, even though the candidate is a Republican.
But Blanche, who heads the Justice Department and previously served as President Trump’s personal lawyer, argued on television Sunday that just having two Sullivans on the ballot would cause confusion.
“That’s wrong,” Blanche told CNN. “Whether we win or lose in court, regardless of what the Alaska Supreme Court has done, in our system no candidate should have to worry about another candidate being on the ballot for no other reason than to confuse voters.”
Blanche also denied wrongdoing by Trump, saying he ordered the lawsuit.
“He’s going to make sure everything is done right in this country, including elections,” Blanche said.
Senate race
Historically, the Justice Department has embraced norms of judicial independence, but critics have accused the Trump administration of wielding prosecutorial power for political gain.
CNN host Bash raised some of those concerns, pointing to Trump’s comments accusing Democrats of fraud and his history of election denialism.
The president has long denied losing the 2020 presidential election, and his supporters attempted to prevent the election from being certified, including by storming the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.
When Bash points out what happened, Blanche chides her. “Oh, that has to stop.”
“Why are you yelling at me?” Bash chimed in as the two talked.
“You’re not a real person. Come on, dude,” Blanche continued. “That’s strange.”
He also denied that President Trump is setting the stage for a campaign if Peltola, a Democrat, wins. Instead, he framed the case as a setup for further investigation into the ultimate outcome.
“The relief we are seeking, again, is not to decide who the senator is, not to try to overturn anything the state is trying to do, but just to make sure that the ballots that come in are preserved in a way that allows the courts to investigate further,” Blanche said.
In the CBS interview, Blanche also dodged a question about whether Trump personally asked her to file a lawsuit.
“I will never, ever talk about my interactions with the president of the United States. I have never talked about them and I never will,” Blanche said.
The fight for control of the U.S. Senate is expected to be fiercely contested, with Republicans currently holding a narrow majority, with 53 seats in the 100-member chamber.
However, because the Senate has a six-year term and is spread out over different election years, only one-third of the Senate seats (35 seats in total) will be contested in the midterm elections.
President Trump’s Republican Party is expected to face an uphill battle to protect its parliamentary majority amid a backlash against the rising cost of living and Trump’s own sluggish poll numbers.
Roughly seven Senate races are considered close, including the Alaska race.
In early October, The New York Times and Siena College released a poll showing Mr. Peltola leading incumbent Mr. Sullivan by about 7 points, one of the widest margins in the battleground state.
