THE BIG STEAL

Trump’s DOJ Launches Brazen Legal Bid to Rig Key Senate Race

The president’s DOJ goons are making a last-ditch effort to block an expected Democratic win in a traditionally red state.

President Donald Trump’s administration has sued Alaska to block certification of its U.S. Senate election if the Republican candidate loses.

The brazen lawsuit hinges on incumbent Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan losing his race while running on the same ballot as another legitimate Republican candidate with a similar name, Daniel J. Sullivan.

Trump has raged that Alaska, a must-win state for Republicans if they hope to maintain control of the Senate, is being “rigged” by having both Sullivans on the ticket. The New York Times completed a survey this month that found Democrat Mary Peltola leading Sullivan by 7 points.

The lawsuit demands that the state block certifying Peltola if she wins while Daniel J. Sullivan remains on the ballot.

“Given the substantial likelihood that the inclusion of Daniel J. Sullivan will confuse or mislead voters looking to cast a vote for Senator Sullivan, and thus distort the will of Alaskan voters, there is a substantial likelihood that a certification of the election will reflect an electoral process that lacked integrity,” the DOJ wrote in its complaint.

The lawsuit seeks to delay certification—only if the incumbent loses—until an investigation can determine “whether votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan were meant to be cast for Senator Sullivan.” The Alaska Supreme Court ruled in June that the other Sullivan can remain on the ticket, which clearly indicates that he is not the incumbent.

Politico reports that the lawsuit has been assigned to U.S. District Judge Sharon Gleason, a 2012 appointee of President Barack Obama.

Alaska uses a ranked-choice voting system that lets voters rank candidates in order of preference. It eliminates the last-place candidate and transfers their votes to each voter’s next choice until one candidate receives a majority of the remaining votes. Next month’s ballot includes four Senate candidates—three Republicans and Peltola.

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Associate U.S. Attorney General Stanley Woodward, who represented Trump allies and Jan. 6 defendants before becoming one of the department’s top appointees, signed the lawsuit that was filed in an Alaska federal court, according to the Associated Press.

The suit’s legal merit is questionable. Derek Muller, a law professor at the University of Notre Dame, told the AP that the quoted statute “simply doesn’t let the Department of Justice enjoin certification.”

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“The lawsuit could well be mooted by a wide Democratic victory or a narrow Republican one, and if not, the court will likely dismiss it next month,” he said.

Still, the threat of blocking an election result is among the most extraordinary to come out of Trump’s second presidential term—six years after he tried, but failed, to halt the certification of the 2020 presidential election that he lost to Joe Biden.

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Josh FialloBreaking News Reporter

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