Blanche: Alaska Senate race is ‘not a fair fight’ to Trump

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday said President Trump doesn’t consider Alaska’s Senate race to be a fair contest because of the controversial appearance on the ballot of a candidate with the same name as incumbent Sen. Dan Sullivan (R), which he argued could confuse voters and potentially cost Republicans the seat.

Speaking on CNN’s “State of the Union,” Blanche defended a Justice Department lawsuit aiming to block the certification of the Senate election in Alaska if the incumbent loses his reelection bid.

“What he has said repeatedly, repeatedly, is that the reason why this is not fair — this is not a fair fight in his mind — is because there is a man on the ballot with the same name as the incumbent senator, who happens to be a Republican,” Blanche said.

Trump on Friday said he directed the DOJ to file the lawsuit, which alleges that the existence of a candidate with a similar name to Sullivan would invalidate a win by opponent Mary Pelota (D).

The department argues that Daniel J. Sullivan is running with the intention of confusing voters and is asking the court to block the certification of the election in a scenario where if all the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan had instead gone to the incumbent, the incumbent would have won.

“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,” Blanche said.

Despite Trump’s public acknowledgement, Blanche declined to say whether the president had instructed him to pursue the lawsuit when pressed by CNN host Dana Bash, saying he would not disclose their private conversations.

“I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States,” he said. “But what I will say is that the president is not shy to the American people and has been very clear with the American people about his concerns about what’s happening in Alaska.”

Alaska election officials previously sought to disqualify Daniel J. Sullivan over allegations that he entered the race to confuse voters. He was ultimately allowed to remain on the ballot following litigation in state courts.