Attorney General Todd Blanche tried to calm the uproar over the Justice Department’s lawsuit targeting Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, a suit some have dubbed "election interference." Critics on both the left and the right quickly fact-checked him with the text of DOJ’s own filing.
“The Department of Justice does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska’s election,” Blanche wrote on X. “This litigation seeks to ensure that after Alaskans cast their ballots, they are preserved in a manner so that only Alaska’s governing officials have the information necessary to make a determination as to whether Alaskan voters were confused or mislead."
Blanche added, "The lawsuit was written by Justice Department attorneys and the Department did not coordinate with any campaign or candidate, but rather relied solely on federal law."
The suit centers on a second Dan Sullivan on the Alaska ballot, who is not the Republican incumbent senator. DOJ argues his presence could confuse voters in the race between Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola. But the filing seeks an order “enjoining defendants from allowing such certification to occur.” In its prayer for relief, it asks the court to bar state officials “from certifying any result that may be impacted by voter confusion” pending an investigation.
Some of the sharpest pushback came from conservatives. Ed Whelan, a senior fellow at the conservative Ethics and Public Policy Center and a former clerk to the late Justice Antonin Scalia, didn’t buy Blanche’s account.
“DOJ isn’t seeking to stop the certification of Alaska’s election?!?” Whelan wrote. “Its complaint sure seems to be asking for that, though some sort of drafting glitch (is the word ‘Enjoin’ missing from the beginning of paragraph 44?) makes that not entirely clear.”
National Review senior writer Dan McLaughlin rejected the core premise of the case.
“Voter confusion was a BS argument when Democrats made it for years & years about the 2000 FL butterfly ballot. It still is,” McLaughlin wrote. “False Dan Sullivan is a dirty trick, but a legal one. He’s no more illegitimate than anything the FL GOP did in 2000.”
Eric Columbus, a former Justice Department official, wrote, “The attorney general thinks we can’t read. He’s plainly trying to stop the certification of Alaska’s election depending on how it turns out.”
Several critics pointed out that President Donald Trump has said he ordered the suit filed. Politico senior legal affairs reporter Kyle Cheney wrote, “The AG’s statement doesn’t speak to that.” He also noted that it’s “unclear how the lawsuit comports with DOJ’s commitment not to even to appear to interfere with states’ tabulation or certification.”
“Such a shame the boss already admitted that Todd’s lying,” wrote Talking Points Memo founder Josh Marshall.
Sen. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.) said Trump “has admitted he was the impetus for this bogus lawsuit,” and added, “The technical, legal term for the Attorney General’s argument is BS.”
Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias was blunter.
“You took marching orders from Trump. You filed a frivolous and sanctionable case. You are going to lose,” Elias wrote. “Mary Peltola is going to win this election and when she is sworn in, I hope you are there to sit and weep.”
National security journalist Marcy Wheeler, who runs the blog Emptywheel, pointed to Blanche’s past as Trump’s defense attorney: “THIS MAN said Donald Trump should be IMMUNIZED for confusing millions of MAGAts. What a shameless liar.”
“You’re not the Attorney General. You’re Donald Trump’s personal lawyer,” wrote former Illinois GOP Rep. Joe Walsh.
Aaron Reichlin-Melnick, a senior fellow at the American Immigration Council, questioned how the suit could even work: “How could any government official determine whether or not a voter was ‘confused’ by the dual Sullivan situation? Votes are secret.”
Crypto investor Adam Cochran said Blanche’s statement was “entirely untrue,” arguing that “Alaska already preserves ballots” and “The DoJ has no rights to those ballots.”
Pedro L. Gonzalez, editor of the newsletter Contra, said the administration “knows Republicans are facing a wipeout” and is trying to “intervene in the midterms.”
Blanche did have defenders. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller called the second Sullivan’s candidacy “one of the biggest election scandals in history.” He wrote that if a “fake Republican Abdul Mohammed El-Sayed” were on a ballot alongside “the real Muslim Brotherhood Abdul Mohammed El-Sayed,” then “the media would be apoplectic.” El-Sayed is Michigan’s Democratic Senate nominee.
Associate Attorney General Stanley Woodward replied to Blanche with a bullseye emoji.