Blanche Defends Justice Department Suit Over Alaska Senate Results
Attorney General Todd Blanche defended a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to stop Alaska from officially certifying, or confirming, its U.S. Senate election results if the Republican incumbent loses. Blanche made the case in an interview with CNN anchor Dana Bash on State of the Union, according to NPR.
The Justice Department sued on Friday, Oct. 23. The suit asks that Alaska not certify any election results that may be affected by voter confusion. Officials argued that the name overlap between incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and a candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, risks confusing voters.
Daniel J. Sullivan is a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg whose name is on the Nov. 3 ballot. Dan Sullivan is in a tight race against Democrat Mary Peltola, a former congresswoman.
In the CNN interview, Blanche said that "there could be a crime, but the real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard," according to CNN. He described the relief the department is seeking as a request "to not certify if the law is broken," as NPR reported.
Blanche denied that the lawsuit was laying groundwork for President Trump to challenge the outcome of the midterm elections. He also said Trump has no designs on taking over state elections, according to Reuters.
Bash pressed Blanche on the legal basis for the suit, and Blanche responded to questions about whether the effort could lead to a repeat of January 6. Blanche called CNN crazy for suggesting that the administration's effort to overturn the Alaska election could lead to such an outcome.
