Trump on Alaska election lawsuit: ‘I’m the one who said do it’

President Trump said Friday he directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to file a lawsuit to block certification of the Senate election in Alaska if Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan loses in November.

DOJ filed the suit Thursday, claiming the existence of a candidate with a similar name to Sullivan’s would make a win by Democrat Mary Peltola invalid. Trump told reporters upon arriving in Florida that he had greenlighted the preemptive election challenge himself.

“I’m the one who said do it,” Trump said.

The issue stems from Daniel J. Sullivan, who is running for Senate in Alaska and will — after extensive litigation that reached the state Supreme Court — appear on the November ballot against an incumbent senator with nearly the same name.

The DOJ said Daniel J. Sullivan is running with the intention of confusing voters and asked a judge to block the certification of the election if the incumbent loses in a scenario where if all the votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan had gone to the incumbent, he would have won.

In Alaska, the top four vote-getters in the primary advance to the general election, which is tabulated using ranked-choice voting. While they have similar names, the two Sullivans will appear differently on the ballot , with the senator labeled “incumbent” and “Republican.”

Sen. Sullivan’s campaign spokesperson, Nate Adams, told The Hill that the campaign will let the DOJ challenge run its course and that Alaskans will be able to differentiate between the two Sullivans on the basis of their records.

Trump has claimed that Democrats recruited Daniel J. Sullivan to run against Peltola and the incumbent Sullivan in a race that could decide control of the Senate. Many Republicans, including the incumbent, have theorized Daniel J. Sullivan’s campaign is a Democratic ploy to confuse voters and cause a Peltola victory, but those claims have never been substantiated.