Trump orders Alaska Senate lawsuit if Republican loses

President Donald Trump said Friday he ordered a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska's Senate election result if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses under specific conditions.

“I'm the one that said, 'Do it,'” Trump said during a trip to Florida ahead of the November 3 midterm elections.

The lawsuit, filed Thursday, alleges that the presence on the ballot of minor candidate Dan J. Sullivan Jr. is a deliberate effort to confuse voters and reduce votes for Senator Sullivan. Democrats and Sullivan Jr., a registered Republican, deny that claim.

The Justice Department asks for certification of a Democratic win to be held up pending investigation if Senator Sullivan loses by a smaller margin than the number of votes won by Sullivan Jr.

Democrat Mary Peltola, who is challenging Sullivan, called the lawsuit “corruption” in a post on X. Legal analyst Derek Muller described the Justice Department's case as “absurdly thin” and unlikely to prevail in court.

Attorney General Todd Blanche said Thursday that the Justice Department was not preparing to interfere in the midterms, but he refused to rule out what he called a “doomsday scenario.”