MS NOWs Jen Psaki said Attorney General Todd Blanche had barely finished calling a federal move to block election certification a “doomsday scenario” to only be done in extreme circumstances, before the Justice Department did exactly that in Alaska.
On “The Briefing,” Psaki recalled that Blanche, asked Thursday whether DOJ would ever try to stop a state from certifying, said such scenarios exist only hypothetically.
“Some doomsday scenario, for example,” Blanche said.
Hours later, Psaki said, the department sued to block Alaska from certifying its Senate race results if the Democrat narrowly wins. The DOJ’s stated justification, she said, is an independent candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, who shares a name with the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
Psaki described him as a 69-year-old retired schoolteacher from Petersburg who teaches guitar to children, volunteers as a firefighter and has run a shoestring campaign. She cited reporting that he had 12 donors, each giving under $1,000, and about $1,901 in cash on hand. She also said he once turned down an interview because the king salmon were running.
She said DOJ’s suit alleges, without proof, that he’s working with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola in a spoiler campaign to steal the race. The problem, said Psaki, is that this was already decided by the state courts — and the ballot already clearly marks which Sullivan is the incumbent senator.
“Clearly, the fact that this guy is running is no doomsday scenario,” Psaki said.