JUST THE START?

Trump’s Election Lawsuit Blitz Takes Wild New Turn

“We all need to brace for what comes next,” a White House insider warned.

The Trump administration is reportedly considering a wave of lawsuits in states where the midterm results are “close.”

A new report has revealed the lengths the administration is apparently willing to go, following its preemptive lawsuit challenging a loss by Alaska’s Republican senator, Dan Sullivan.

The Justice Department’s lawsuit last Thursday claims Alaska voters will be confused by the other Republican named Dan Sullivan, even though the senator is clearly listed on the ballot as the incumbent.

While none of the other high-profile races have this unique feature, they too could face legal action at Trump’s direction, Raw America reported Monday.

A White House source told that outlet that several of Trump’s staffers are “concerned” about this possibility a week out from the midterms.

“We know there are plans to discredit every race that Republicans lose. Every one of them. And we know [Attorney General] Todd Blanche will spearhead the legal efforts,” this person said. “The president is wounded, and if he loses he’ll be embarrassed. We all need to brace for what comes next.”

Raw America, citing a White House insider, reported that Trump may seek to sue “anywhere the Senate vote is close.” This includes Iowa, Maine, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas.

Other states where polling has shown a competitive race include Kansas and Ohio—both Republican seats. Meanwhile, Democrats in Georgia and North Carolina have largely pulled away from their Republican competition, though they have stressed that the result could still be close. The same is true in New Hampshire and Minnesota, where one Democrat, Jeanne Shaheen, is retiring and the other, Amy Klobuchar, is seeking the governorship.

The same White House source told Raw America that the Trump administration may file a lawsuit in California, too.

This comes as the Justice Department has inserted itself into the blue state’s voting process by demanding election officials put aside votes of suspected noncitizens. A three-member appeals court panel seemed skeptical of that argument over the weekend and on Monday ruled against the administration. Still, there are no indications that the administration will back down.

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California has no Senate contest and only one House race that Cook Political Report considers a toss-up, so any Justice Department action would seem to be focused less on any particular result, and more on the pursuit of the administration’s claim that there are 20,000 noncitizens on the state’s voter rolls.

Trump has also made California a fixture of his baseless voter fraud claims regarding his three presidential elections.

Whether or not the Justice Department’s Alaska lawsuit is just the start of legal challenges, it is already one of several actions the administration has taken to try to bend the election process to its will. And in many cases, the administration has lost in court; the Supreme Court shut down its ballot screening plans for the U.S. Postal Service, 27 states (and counting) don’t have to turn over their voter rolls to the government, and a federal judge restricted the actions of Homeland Security Investigations agents going door to door looking for illegally registered voters.

The Daily Beast has reached out to the White House and Justice Department for comment.

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