1. United States
2. Wash.
3. Letter

Investigate and condemn the Trump administration's use of the Justice Department to pre-emptively block certification of Alaska's Senate election. On October 23, with early ballots already being cast, Trump's DOJ walked into federal court to block certification of a Mary Peltola victory and demanded the physical segregation of ballots. Trump then admitted on camera, "I'm the one that said do it." The Alaska Supreme Court settled the underlying ballot question on June 29. There is no legal basis for this action. Harvard election law scholars say there is no federal cause of action here, and Alaska's own Republican administration asked the federal court to throw the case out. This is not about ballot integrity. Trump needs Dan Sullivan in the Senate to protect a sanctions waiver he signed on October 16, two weeks after Congress passed the Lindsey Graham sanctions bill 86 to 11. That waiver shields Novatek, a sanctioned Russian company run by Putin loyalist Leonid Mikhelson, which is now publicly moving to buy into Polar Train LNG, a $25 billion Alaska gas project fronted by Don Jr.'s college friend Gentry Beach. A Senate with oversight power would haul those people in front of a committee. That is exactly why Trump is trying to quarantine the ballots before anyone votes. This is the federal government being used as a campaign. Alaska voters are entitled to have their election certified without White House interference. Speak out against this now.