Trump’s Power Plays Put Press, Ballots and Cuba in Crosshairs

The Justice Department is asking a federal court to block certification of Alaska’s Senate election under a condition that could affect whether incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan loses by fewer votes than independent candidate Daniel J. Sullivan receives. President Donald Trump said Friday he ordered the suit: “I’m the one that said do it.” Federal power has entered a state-run election at the president’s direction. Voters and civic groups want a court to stop it.

On Friday, Alaska voters Risé Roy and Jan Jakub Grzeda, the League of Women Voters of Alaska and Common Cause moved to dismiss the case and asked the court to consider sanctions against the attorneys who signed it. Their filing calls the complaint “frivolous” and “unsupported by any case, legal principle, or arguably tenable reading of the NVRA [National Voter Registration Act].” It argues the federal government’s claimed power to police the election “defiles the Constitution’s careful federalist balance” and could “disenfranchise voters and deny their fundamental right to vote.”

The filing’s final line targets officials directing the apparatus: “The desire of powerful officials to try to achieve some result through the legal process does not turn a frivolous legal argument into a colorable one.”

Who Gets to Count the Votes

The Justice Department argues Daniel J. Sullivan’s “sole purpose” in running is to help Democrat Mary Peltola by misleading some supporters of Senator Sullivan into voting for him. It says Alaska would fail “in its obligation to protect the integrity of its election” if the state certified results “tainted by the inclusion on the ballot of Daniel J. Sullivan.”

In June, the Alaska Supreme Court ruled both Dan Sullivans could remain on the ballot, finding no legal basis under the Constitution or state law to remove Daniel J. Sullivan. A Justice Department spokesperson told Newsweek that Alaska’s Division of Elections had determined Daniel J. Sullivan’s candidacy was intended to mislead voters. Attorney General Todd Blanche said the department “does not seek to stop any ballot from being cast or to stop the certification of Alaska’s election,” and said it didn’t coordinate with any campaign or candidate. Yet the Justice Department lawsuit seeks to prevent certification under a specified election outcome.

The polls cited in the article show a close race. A Rasmussen Reports survey of 775 likely Alaska voters, conducted October 12-15, put Peltola at 44 percent and Sullivan at 42 percent, within the poll’s three-percentage-point margin of error. Data for Progress surveyed 675 likely voters from October 8-16 and found Peltola ahead in the final round, 51 percent to Sullivan’s 49 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percent. Alaska adopted ranked-choice voting in 2020: voters rank candidates, and further rounds can follow if no candidate reaches 50 percent.

A Briefing Room, a Ballot, a Threat

Trump said Friday he might move dozens of White House reporters to “a less obnoxious location,” while denying he had considered removing the press briefing room to restore a historic swimming pool beneath it. “I NEVER even thought to do such a stupid thing!” he wrote on Truth Social, calling reports of the plan “Fake News.” Former press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump was “flirting” with restoring the pool. The New York Times reported Trump had pitched her on moving journalists from the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room; the proposal didn’t proceed during her tenure, which ended on August 27.

The press corps faces other confrontations. Last month, Trump barred CNN, MS NOW and POLITICO journalists from the White House. A federal judge ruled the order was likely unconstitutional and required the White House to restore their access; the administration continues to fight the ruling. At an Oval Office event Tuesday, Trump challenged The Independent’s White House Correspondent Andrew Feinberg as he tried to ask a question, saying, “What’s wrong with you? Are you a sick person? I actually think there’s something wrong with you.” The White House amplified the exchange on social media.

Campaigns, Warships and the Limits of the Ballot

Across the midterm campaign, candidates and party figures are asking voters to hand them power, while the White House pursues policies and legal fights beyond any single campaign rally. Trump cast his midterm ballot early in West Palm Beach, Florida, on Saturday, then headed to a rally in Georgia. Asked if he voted along party lines, he said, “Very much so.” Critics have noted that he voted by mail despite criticizing that method. He has opposed early voting while advocating for it during this election cycle.

At a South Florida rally Friday, Trump said U.S. warships returning from the Middle East after the Iran war could stop near Cuba. “We’ll have one of them stop about 50 yards off the coast,” he said, adding that Secretary of State Marco Rubio would “finish up the deal.” Shortly afterward, Rubio posted that “now is the time” for action and urged people seeking “positive change” to pursue it “through a discrete partnership with the CIA.” The remarks came days before midterm elections, as voters expressed concern about the war’s effects on prices, including gas and groceries.

The ballot-box contest also runs alongside a fight over representation. Florida Republicans redrew the state’s congressional map, which Gov. Ron DeSantis signed into law in May, targeting Democratic seats near Orlando, Tampa Bay and South Florida. The map could shift the state’s House delegation from 20 to 8 to 24 to 4 in Republicans’ favor. Democrats called it a partisan effort to satisfy Trump and harm the majority of Florida voters who aren’t registered Republicans. District lines have already been redrawn by those in power, and candidates are now campaigning within them.