Blanche on Alaska suit: 'There could be a crime'

Attorney General Todd Blanche on Sunday defended the Justice Department's newly filed lawsuit to prevent Alaska state officials from certifying election results if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in November.

In an at-times contentious interview with CNN's "State of the Union," Blanche pointed out that according to the Constitution, Congress can create laws at any time to regulate elections. But when host Dana Bash asked what crime the administration was arguing was being committed, Blanche replied, "It depends."

"There could be a crime," said Blanche. "But the real wrong here is that Alaskans are going to be confused and will not have their vote heard. So an Alaskan intends to vote for one candidate, but is confused because of a second candidate with exactly the same name who has voted Democrat his entire life, who donated money to the other Democrat opponent, is running."

Bash pressed Blanche on how it is illegal for two candidates with the same name to be on a ballot at the same time.

"It is an obligation of the states to avoid confusion, among other things, confusion in the minds of voters in the election process," Blanche replied. "So the question is whether Alaska, by allowing this to happen, is violating the law and the federal law and the constitution by allowing confusion in the ballot."

The Alaskan Supreme Court in June ruled that both Sullivans may remain on the ballot as the incumbent faces off in a tight reelection battle with former Democratic Rep. Mary Peltola. The four-person Senate ranked-choice ballot for the general election specifies that Dan S. Sullivan is a "Registered Republican" and the "incumbent" — no information is listed after Dan J. Sullivan Jr's name.

Regardless, in the suit filed Thursday , DOJ argued that Dan J. Sullivan Jr.'s name on the ballot constitutes a purposeful effort to mislead voters.

Still, it's unclear how much the court can do about the Justice Department's lawsuit. With ballots secret, it is virtually impossible for the Justice Department to identify specific voters and clarify which Sullivan candidate they meant to vote for.

Blanche, though, seemed unconcerned about that hurdle.

"There are a number of scenarios where it could be obvious that a voter was confused by the way they wrote down candidates," said Blanche.

President Donald Trump on Friday said the legal challenge was his idea, though Blanche on Sunday declined to state whether the president had directed him to file the suit.

"I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States," he said.

Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), who is not up for reelection this year, said Friday that the lawsuit is unnecessary.

"Alaskans don't need any help voting for their preferred candidates, and the State of Alaska has already handled this by clearly distinguishing the candidates on this year's ballot," Murkowski said in a post on X . "The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit."

Her comments drew the ire of Trump, who on Saturday called Murkowski "Republicans' Worst Senator, by far," in a post to Truth Social .

Trump said that Alaska's ranked choice voting system is "a TOTAL DEMOCRAT SCAM meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before, named Daniel J. Sullivan, Jr."

"He is only there because the Democrats want to steal the Election, and Murkowski probably wants that to happen, which is why she is against the DOJ filing a Lawsuit in order to stop this impending crime and tragedy," Trump added. "I have delivered for Alaska at Historic Levels, nobody has ever seen anything like it, and all I'm asking for is a FAIR AND HONEST SENATORIAL ELECTION! Lisa Murkowski is a DISGRACE to Alaska and our Country. You just don't get any worse!"

Democratic leaders have also widely condemned the lawsuit, arguing the president is attempting to lay the foundation to overturn the midterm election results if their candidates win critical elections — something Bash asked Blanche about on Sunday.

"One of the big questions is whether or not the president is laying the groundwork for a scenario where, whether it's Alaska or somewhere else, there is, in your words a couple of days ago, a 'doomsday scenario' and we could be in a situation where President Trump tries to overturn the election and the result of that could be, god forbid, what we saw after January 6th," Bash said.

Blanche quickly fired back: "Oh stop it. You gotta stop it with that. You're not being a real person. You set me up. You're saying, "'Mr. Attorney General, because the president of the United States wants to stop fraud and confusion in Alaska, is he going to do something crazy?' That is not a real question."

Bash replied that she did not think it was an unfair question, but Blanche argued that the premise of the question was untrue.

"Instead of focusing on how we can address that and how we can remedy that, you're talking about January 6th," he said. "That's so embarrassing to this network that that's what you're talking about."

"Don't "oh, come on" me," replied Blanche. "There's literally confusion."

It wasn't the only tense interview Blanche had Sunday.

In an appearance on CBS' "Face the Nation," Blanche accused host Margaret Brennan of lying over the wording of the Justice Department's lawsuit .

"The Alaska Supreme Court did take on this matter," Brennan began, referring to the court's June decision.

"No, they didn't. That's a state law," interrupted Blanche.

"In this country, the states administer the elections. This is how the state came up with the issue and how to handle any confusion," Brennan said as the Alaskan ballot was shown on the screen.

"You're not telling the truth," said Blanche.

Brennan asked why identifying Sullivan as the incumbent is insufficient for the administration.

"Well, listen, I don't know if it's sufficient," said Blanche. "But I can tell you this: that the director of the Alaska election system has said that it will likely cause confusion."

Brennan pointed out that the ballots are already circulating, and voting may already be underway, as many vote by mail in Alaska. She then pressed Blanche on Trump claiming responsibility for the lawsuit, to which Blanche reiterated that he will not share his communications with the president.

"The president of the United States said this on camera ," Brennan replied. "He said, "I told them to do it." Did he tell that to you?"

"He didn't say that on camera," argued Blanche, before adding Trump had been looking at the situation for "months and months and months." He later added that he had "no idea" who Trump was referring to, and even if he did, he would "most certainly not" talk about it.

Brennan then pivoted to read several lines from DOJ's lawsuit, including that the suit defined voter confusion as Sen. Sullivan not winning the election and that had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast for the incumbent then he would have won.

As she spoke, Blanche interrupted again.

"I'm quoting from it," Brennan replied, holding up a printed version of the suit. "You are telling them not to certify it. What right does the federal government have telling a state not to certify or how to certify?"

After a moment of crosstalk, Blanche stated: "If you talk the whole time you're not going to get answers out of me. If you let me answer your question I can address your question." He then said the suit does not call for officials to avoid certifying the election.

"All we're doing is trying to put guardrails in place so that if that happens there's a system allowed where the ballots are kept in a way so we can determine whether there was confusion," he explained.

In his interview with CNN, Blanche denied any political motivations were behind the Justice Department's lawsuit.

"It's important the American people understand that we are not — President Trump is not trying to take over a state election in any way, shape or form," he said. "What we're trying to do is make it clear that if it is obvious after the election, that confusion led to an improper and illegal result that the Alaskan system should be able to address that."

In an interview with NBC's "Meet the Press" on Sunday, Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) argued the administration has no standing to bring the Alaska lawsuit, and he lambasted Blanche for leading a "disgraceful campaign."

"This suit has no chance of succeeding," said Schiff. "But the fact that Todd Blanche and the Justice Department are willing to go along with it, they're willing to put their name on it, is an indication of how far they will go after this election is over to try to challenge the results."