Blanche says DOJ is "doing our own research" with Alaska challenge

Attorney General Todd Blanche defended a Justice Department lawsuit that seeks to head off certification of Alaska's Senate race should Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan lose, arguing that voters may have been misled by a second candidate with the identical name. Appearing on "Face the Nation," Blanche said the department is not telling the state to withhold certification. Rather, it wants ballots preserved so a court can judge whether confusion, instead of voter preference, decided the outcome. He conceded nobody knows yet what the results will show, according to CBS News.

The namesake, Daniel J. Sullivan, a former teacher, entered the contest in June. A state election official first ruled him ineligible, but the Alaska Supreme Court allowed him on the ballot. Sullivan faces Democrat Mary Peltola, whose campaign denounced the suit as a despicable political threat to overturn an election. Blanche said the filing came 11 days before voting because the administration had hoped for a fuller explanation from the state court. President Trump said he ordered the action; Blanche declined to say whom Trump meant. Sen. Lisa Murkowski opposed the suit, while Sen. Thom Tillis called a review reasonable but questioned filing before any facts emerged.

Summarized by PolitiKool from CBS News’s reporting. Read the full story at CBS News →