'Stop It': Blanche Swats CNN's Jan. 6 Question as ACLU Seeks Sanctions Over Alaska Suit

Attorney General Todd Blanche went on CNN's State of the Union Sunday to defend the Justice Department's lawsuit over Alaska's two Dan Sullivans. Host Dana Bash went straight to January 6. Blanche didn't take the bait.

"Oh, stop it. Oh, you've got to stop it with that," Blanche told her. "You are not being a real person. Come on, man. Oh, come on. That is crazy."

Quick catch-up for anyone just tuning in. Alaska's Senate ballot lists Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan and a second man, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired Petersburg teacher who has voted for Democrats and who the state's own elections chief ruled in June had filed "to confuse or mislead" voters. Alaska's courts put him back on anyway. On Thursday the DOJ sued, asking a federal judge to hold up certification only if the senator loses by fewer votes than the other Sullivan pulls. We covered who the second Sullivan is and exactly what the lawsuit asks. This report is about what happened next: the Sunday-show fight, a Republican senator turning on the suit, Trump firing back, and the ACLU and Democratic Party lawyers asking the court to kill it.

The exchange

Bash framed the question this way, on CNN: "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."

Blanche's answer, once he got the floor: "You set me up with the following question. Because the President, because the Department of Justice, is concerned that there is an absolute fraud happening in Alaska, and he wants to do something about it, you're saying, 'Mr. Attorney General, because the President of the United States wants to stop a fraud and confusion in Alaska, is he going to do something crazy?' That is not a real question."

"We're not laying any groundwork for the president to do that," he said. "So your premise, your question is not true." The groundwork, he said, "is for Alaska, for the state of Alaska."

Think of a referee who asks to look at the replay on a close call, and a reporter asks him whether he plans to steal the trophy. Checking the tape is not a coup. It is the job.

Did Trump order it? He already said so

Bash also pressed Blanche on whether President Trump directed the suit, noting Trump said Friday, "I'm the one that said 'do it.'" Blanche wouldn't discuss his talks with the president. "I will never talk about any communications I have with the president of the United States," he said, but "the president is not shy" about his concerns over Alaska (CNN State of the Union).

He said the case came out of work by the department's civil rights attorneys, who "determined that there was a federal law that obligated us to try to step in to stop what I think every American views as an injustice." Then he gave the line the whole fight turns on: "You won't admit it, but it is true that the only reason this man is on the ballot is to confuse voters. If everybody would start with that premise, then I think the ... frustration people are having towards the Department of Justice would dissipate, because we're doing the right thing."

Why file 10 days before the election? Blanche gave two reasons. The DOJ had to file before the vote so the ballots "are kept in a way that may allow a court to investigate further." And the Alaska Supreme Court said back in June it would explain its ruling putting the second Sullivan on the ballot. "They haven't issued such," Blanche said. "And so we had no time." The DOJ's complaint says the same thing: that opinion still hasn't come.

Murkowski breaks ranks, Trump fires back

The loudest Republican objection came from Alaska's other senator. "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," Sen. Lisa Murkowski posted on 𝕏 Friday night. "The Department of Justice should never have filed this lawsuit." The post passed 800,000 views.

Trump answered late Saturday night on Truth Social. He called Murkowski "The Republicans' Worst Senator, by far" and said she "only got elected because of Corrupt Ranked Choice Voting." He wrote that the ranked-choice ballot is "meant to confuse the Voter, so that Senator Dan Sullivan will lose Votes to a man who has never participated in Politics before." And he made the stakes plain: "The Democrats are trying to steal this important Republican Seat." A second post minutes later added, "Miracles happen!" (Trump's Truth archive).

The numbers behind Trump's ranked-choice jab

Here is the part most coverage skips. Trump's point about Murkowski and ranked-choice voting is right there in the state's own 2022 count (Alaska Division of Elections).

Round one. Murkowski 114,118 (43.39%), Republican Kelly Tshibaka 112,101 (42.62%), Democrat Pat Chesbro 28,233 (10.73%), Republican Buzz Kelley 8,575 (3.26%). Nobody hit 50%.

Round two. Kelley's ballots were moved. Murkowski led Tshibaka by just 449 votes, 115,759 to 115,310.

Round three. Chesbro, the Democrat, was eliminated. Her voters' second choices went to Murkowski over Tshibaka by 20,571 to 2,224. Murkowski won, 136,330 to 117,534.

In other words, the Republican race was a dead heat, and Democratic voters' backup picks decided it. That is exactly the kind of system where a few thousand votes for a look-alike name can quietly change who wins. The other Sullivan drew 4,107 votes, 2.47%, in this August's primary (our earlier report).

The ACLU wants the DOJ's lawyers punished

Two groups of left-leaning lawyers moved Friday to join the case on Alaska's side and throw it out. The filings are on the federal docket in Anchorage, United States v. State of Alaska, No. 3:26-cv-00376, before U.S. District Judge Sharon L. Gleason.

The first is the ACLU and the ACLU of Alaska, representing the League of Women Voters of Alaska, Common Cause and two voters (motion). Their proposed motion to dismiss calls the case a "frivolous, election-eve lawsuit" and a "bizarre, eleventh-hour stunt suit," and argues the National Voter Registration Act "relates solely to voter registration, not to voter confusion, ballot placement, vote counting, or certification." Then it goes further. It asks the judge to consider "Rule 11 sanctions against the attorneys who signed the Complaint in the name of the United States Department of Justice" (proposed motion to dismiss).

The second is Marc Elias's firm, Elias Law Group, for Mary Peltola's campaign committee, Alaskans for Mary, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee. Their brief calls the suit "an unprecedented pre-emptive strike on democratic elections" and says, "Alaskans, apparently, must elect Senator Dan S. Sullivan or the President will not let them elect anyone at all" (DSCC motion). They also say they doubt the state will defend itself hard enough, since Alaska's own elections division tried to kick the second Sullivan off the ballot.

That last point gives the game away. The people asking for sanctions against federal lawyers are fighting a suit whose core evidence is a finding by Alaska's own elections director. Her June letter, attached to the complaint, said the second Sullivan's filing "was instead filed with a purpose to confuse or mislead" (complaint). You can disagree with the DOJ's legal theory. Calling it a stunt means calling the state's top election official a stuntwoman too.

What's next

Judge Gleason has to decide whether to let the groups in, and whether the case survives. Election Day is Nov. 3, and early voting has been open since Oct. 19. If no Senate candidate tops 50%, Alaska runs its ranked-choice tabulation Nov. 18, and the state's target date to certify is Nov. 25, according to Alaska Public Media. If Sen. Sullivan wins, or loses by more than the other Sullivan's vote total, the lawsuit never kicks in.

Alaskans also vote Nov. 3 on Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal ranked-choice voting and the open top-four primary and bring back party primaries and a pick-one general election (Alaska Public Media). Trump's verdict: "VOTE 'YES' AGAINST RANKED CHOICE VOTING, on Ballot Measure 2. SAVE ALASKA!"

Until then, the instructions for Alaska voters haven't changed. Check the middle initial. It's S.