With moves in Alaska and California, the department has stepped up interventions in the midterm elections as the president’s instrument of unmediated executive power.
President Trump during a campaign rally in support of Senator Dan S. Sullivan in Wasilla, Alaska, this month. Mr. Trump urged the Justice Dept. to intervene in the Senate race.
One of them is a Republican senator and ally of the president. The other is a retired schoolteacher whom Republicans accuse of being a Democratic plant to siphon away votes.
Oil drilling rigs in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska. The Polar LNG plan called for the company to tap into the giant load of natural gas available in the state’s northern reaches.
No obvious legal authority supports a pre-emptive effort to block the certification of Alaska’s Senate election if the Republican incumbent narrowly loses.
President Trump is making a final push to help Republicans maintain control of Congress as some of the most closely watched races remain competitive. But the battle for the Senate is also playing out in court. In Alaska, the Trump administration sued to potentially block certification of the election if the Republican incumbent loses. White House correspondent Liz Landers reports.