Attorney General Todd Blanche lashed out at CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday after she questioned whether President Donald Trump’s intervention in Alaska’s Senate election could lay the groundwork for overturning results he dislikes.

“Oh, stop it!” Blanche exclaimed during a heated appearance on “State of the Union.” “You’ve gotta stop it with that! You are not being a real person! Come on man, that is crazy!”

“It is not crazy!” Bash responded.

The confrontation came as Bash pressed Blanche about the Justice Department’s unprecedented lawsuit seeking to block certification of Alaska‘s Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses. Trump acknowledged Friday that he directed the legal action, telling reporters, “I’m the one that said do it.”

The administration argues that another candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., could confuse voters and siphon support from the incumbent, potentially benefiting Democratic challenger Mary Peltola. Alaska courts have rejected efforts to remove the similarly named candidate from the ballot.

Asked what crime justified federal intervention, Blanche struggled to identify one.

“What’s the crime? Well, it depends. There could be a crime,” he said, before arguing that the real concern was voters becoming confused and having their voices ignored.

Bash then raised the possibility of a “doomsday scenario” in which Trump attempts to overturn election results, invoking the aftermath of the 2020 election and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.

“That is not a real question!” Blanche protested.

“We’re not laying any groundwork for the president to do that!” he added, insisting the administration was not attempting to take over a state election.

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On NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Sen. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., rejected the Justice Department’s intervention.

“It’s not the federal government’s business to run Alaskan elections,” Schiff said. “It’s Alaska’s business to do that.”

Schiff argued that Alaska’s courts had already addressed the ballot dispute and questioned the Justice Department’s legal standing.

The lawsuit has also drawn criticism from Alaska Republican Sen. Lisa Murkowski, underscoring opposition extending beyond Democrats.

With Election Day quickly approaching, the administration’s willingness to challenge how a state certifies its results has raised concerns about federal interference in elections traditionally administered by state officials.

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President Donald Trump is urging Republicans across the country to vote early and by mail, even as his Justice Department escalates legal challenges to election procedures in multiple states less than two weeks before the midterms.

In a series of nearly identical Truth Social posts promoting Republican turnout, Trump encouraged voters to use virtually every available method of casting a ballot.

“Whether you VOTE early, absentee, by mail, or in-person, Republicans must SWAMP the Radical Left Dumocrats with massive turnout!” he wrote.

The enthusiastic endorsement of mail voting comes from a president who has repeatedly attacked the practice as vulnerable to fraud and previously sought sweeping restrictions on mail ballots.

Meanwhile, federal prosecutors sent letters Friday to election officials in at least 18 California counties, demanding that they identify and set aside ballots suspected of belonging to noncitizens within 48 hours.

“Any election official who knowingly processes the ballot of a noncitizen is opening themselves to legal jeopardy,” First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli warned.

The demands follow a Justice Department lawsuit seeking to prevent California from counting ballots associated with roughly 20,000 people the administration considers likely noncitizens. State officials dispute the reliability of the federal government’s data and warn that eligible voters could be disenfranchised.

Federal prosecutors have charged 28 people in California with illegally registering to vote, some of whom also allegedly cast ballots. Research has consistently found noncitizen voting to be extremely rare.

In Alaska, Trump’s Justice Department filed a separate lawsuit seeking to block certification of the Senate race under certain circumstances if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The dispute centers on another candidate named Daniel Sullivan, whom Republicans argue could confuse voters.

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“I’m the one that said do it,” Trump told reporters Friday, acknowledging that he directed the lawsuit.

The California and Alaska cases involve different legal questions, but together underscore the administration’s aggressive involvement in state election administration. For Republican voters, however, Trump’s message remains straightforward: Use every available voting method to defeat Democrats.

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