/ CBS News
The following is the transcript of the interview with Attorney General Todd Blance that aired on "Face the Nation with Margaret Brennan" on Oct. 25, 2026.
MARGARET BRENNAN: And we begin with U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche. Good morning to you, sir.
ATTORNEY GENERAL TODD BLANCHE: Good morning.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So we're nine days out. Your colleague Harmeet Dhillon, whose office would oversee election integrity cases, told my colleagues over at 60 Minutes that, quote, "absent some shocking contingency that's unexpected, there should be no interruption in the usual course of counting and certifying the results in the states." Do you share that view?
AG BLANCHE: Well, yes, of course. Absent- absent some facts that require us to do otherwise, there's President Trump, the Department of Justice- we don't want to have to get a law involved in elections, of course not. But that doesn't mean that at times any Justice Department doesn't do that and shouldn't do that if the facts and the law require it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, it seems you already are taking action up in Alaska. Just for our audience to understand, there are two Dan Sullivans on the ballot there. There's the incumbent senator, a Republican, Dan S. Sullivan, and then there's a challenger there, Dan J. Sullivan. The Justice Department is suing Alaska preemptively to block the certification of the results if Senator Sullivan loses. Now, President Trump was asked about this lawsuit. He said quote, "I'm the one that said do it." Who did he tell to do this? Did he tell you to do this?
AG BLANCHE: Well, first of all, let me correct you, okay. You describe facts that were just simply either at best misleading, but really a lie to your viewers. It is not two Dan Sullivans, one an incumbent and one running. That's not true. The head of the Alaska Election Commission, not- not President Trump, not me, has said that the second Dan Sullivan is running solely to confuse voters, solely to pull votes away from the incumbent senator. Okay, so that is something that we're dealing with. It's not just two Dan Sullivans running on the ballot in Alaska. That is not true. And second, President Trump has been talking about what a travesty this is for many, many, many months, and the Department of Justice has been looking at it for many, many, many months, as we should under federal law. And you saw what we did earlier this week- late last week. And it was not- it's not to let the federal government take over the Alaska system of selecting their next senator or certifying who's going to be senator. It's asking the court to step in where the Alaska Supreme Court didn't, which is to look at federal law, and if necessary, to allow a process for Alaska to decide who should be who should be certified as a winner.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Alaska Supreme Court did uphold lower court's ruling on this matter. They found the assertion that Mr. Sullivan seeks to confuse or misguide voters is not supported by preponderance of evidence. The Alaska Supreme Court did take on this matter. I also want to show our viewers what the ballot will look like. We have a picture of it.
AG BLANCHE: No, they didn't. That's the state law. That's the state law.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Just to make clear here--
AG BLANCHE: That's the state law.
MARGARET BRENNAN: --this is how the state- in this country, the states administer the elections- this is how the state came up with the issue and how to handle any confusion. Our viewers are seeing it right now. It's ranked choice voting.
AG BLANCHE: I mean, you're not- you're not telling the truth. You're not being honest with the voters.
MARGARET BRENNAN: They can see that Dan- I'm showing the ballot to the viewers right now.
AG BLANCHE: You're not.
MARGARET BRENNAN: It's on the screen. It says Dan S. Sullivan is listed as the incumbent. Why is that- it says incumbent. Why is that not sufficient?
AG BLANCHE: Well, listen. I don't know if it's sufficient, but I can tell you this: that the director of the Alaska election system has said that it will likely cause confusion, and so, you know, that- you- you can continue to talk and continue to state facts as you want them to be, but that's different than the way that they actually are. The Alaska Supreme Court did not rule on the federal law that's implicated in every election, and it is true that it is not often that we have to get involved. But just take a step back. Take a step back and understand what's happening here. There is no dispute that the only reason the second Dan Sullivan is running is to pull votes away in a confusing and inappropriate manner from the Dan Sullivan incumbent. Okay? And the Alaska Supreme Court, when they issued a ruling, they didn't issue a decision yet. We're waiting for that decision to be- to- the opinion to be issued, but in the meantime, all that we are trying to do as the Department of Justice is make sure that federal law--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
AG BLANCHE: --is enforced and upheld if it needs to happen after the election.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the ballots are out. There's a lot of mail-in ballot voting in Alaska. The ballot's going to look like what we just showed our viewers. They are both on there. In terms of the question I asked you, I asked if it was President Trump who told you to take this action. When the president said, "I'm the one that said do it," who did he tell to do it?
AG BLANCHE: So I don't- I will never, ever, ever talk about communications that I have with the president of the United States. I never have, and I never will.
MARGARET BRENNAN: No, the president of the United States said this on camera.
AG BLANCHE: But make sure that you understand that this was not the--
MARGARET BRENNAN: He said, "I told them to do it." Did he tell that to you?
AG BLANCHE: No, that wasn't your question. No, no, he didn't say it on camera.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes, he did.
AG BLANCHE: He said he told them to do that. I said I will not talk ever about- no, that wasn't your question, I said. I said, what your question was to me is, did he tell me? And I said to you, I will not talk about communications I have with the president of the United States. I haven't ever, and I won't ever. But I will tell you this: this is the Department of Justice doing our own research under the law, the Civil Rights Unit in the Department of Justice drafting this lawsuit, and then ultimately we filed the lawsuit. President Trump has been talking about this for months and months and months and months.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
AG BLANCHE: This isn't something new that just came up last week. This is something that's been going on for a long time.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Why did he file it 11 days before the election?
AG BLANCHE: Well, we were hopeful that- that the Supreme Court would actually issue an opinion and explain their reasoning. What we knew from their ruling is that they didn't consider federal law. I'm not judging them for that; it's just a fact. They didn't consider federal law, so we want a procedure in place that if there is litigation, there may not be, but if there is litigation brought by others after the election because of possible voter confusion, that the ballots are kept in a way that the Alaska state- that the Alaska state election system can determine who the accurate winner is, not the federal government, not President Trump, not me, but the Alaska system as the law is required- as the law is set out for it to do.
MARGARET BRENNAN: So the DOJ lawsuit says the defendants, who are the state election board and the ballot counting review board, quote, "not certify any election result that may be impacted by voter confusion." The confusion is defined as Senator Sullivan not winning, and had all votes cast for Daniel J. Sullivan been cast as said for Senator Sullivan, then he would have won. How do you--
AG BLANCHE: –That's not what it says, okay.
MARGARET BRENNAN: I'm quoting from it.
AG BLANCHE: What it says is the way- the way that you can determine--
MARGARET BRENNAN: You are telling them not to certify it.
AG BLANCHE: No, no, but the way you- you started that--
MARGARET BRENNAN: What right does the federal government have--
AG BLANCHE: No, no we're not saying- no we're saying--
MARGARET BRENNAN: --telling a state not to certify or how to certify?
AG BLANCHE: We are not- we are- you know, if you talk the whole time, you're not going to get answers out of me. But if you let me answer your question, I can address your question. Okay, so the- exactly what we want is that there are ways- because of the way that Alaska ballots are set up, where voters can vote for more than one candidate– there is a way, potentially- we don't know what's going to happen yet- where it will be obvious from the results and from the ballots that voters were confused, and that could be obvious from the way that they rank the Dan Sullivans or not including a Dan Sullivan on the ballot. I don't know yet because there hasn't been an election. But all we are doing is trying to put guardrails in place so that if that- this- that happens, there's a system allowed where the ballots are kept in a way so that we can determine whether there was confusion. It's not saying don't certify. It's saying if a court ultimately determines that it was decided because of confusion and not the will of the voters, then we do not think the states should certify, and that's consistent with federal law and consistent with even Alaskan law, if that happens.
MARGARET BRENNAN: You've been clear in saying you won't talk about your conversations with the president. Who was he referring to when he said, "I'm the one that said do it"?
AG BLANCHE: I have no idea who he was referring to and even if I did have an idea, I would most certainly not talk about it. He's not- what- what the president is saying, and what he clearly has said for the past four months, five months, is that this is a travesty, and this- in this country we should not have a system of elections where it's okay for somebody who is only running with the same name to pull votes away.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
AG BLANCHE: And by the way, how about we talk about that? I mean, do you disagree with that? Do you think that that's okay? You think that should be allowed in- in our system of government? Someone that the- the head of the Alaskan system of voters has said that there is no scenario under which she can certify that voters will not be confused, and she lists a number of reasons why--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Right.
AG BLANCHE: --that wasn't President Trump and that wasn't me. And the fact that the conversation is about this lawsuit we filed, and not the fact that there's a person running for Senate in the United States, in Alaska that- that the head of the elections has said is- is only running to to confuse voters. That should be the conversation, and it's not, and that's- that's unfortunate. But we're going to make it--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
AG BLANCHE: --the conversation.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Well, the Supreme Court also talked about the fact that the good faith requirement does not appear in the Constitution, so whether it was intended to be confusing or not, they sort of put that aside. Anyway--
AG BLANCHE: Right, correct, and so- and that's that. You know, you're totally- you're totally right about that. But that's where they did not consider federal law. You're- you're right that what the Alaska Supreme Court said is even if it's bad faith--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yeah.
AG BLANCHE: --our laws in Alaska, for reasons that, you know, that- not up to them, don't- don't address that. But that's different than federal law, which is why we brought a federal lawsuit.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Let me ask you about other federal actions. CBS is reporting that DOJ is looking into allegations that Corey Lewandowski, the former advisor to then-DHS Secretary Kristi Noem, used his position for financial gain. President Trump said this.
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PRESIDENT TRUMP: All I know is I want my people to be honest, and if they're not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted. I don't know about specifically, but- because I view if people are not honest, they're stealing from me as president. They're stealing from me, so I want my people to be honest, and if they're not honest, I'll have my DOJ go and do whatever they have to do.
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MARGARET BRENNAN: Have you briefed the president on any part of this investigation? Are you willing to go after corruption within the administration?
AG BLANCHE: Your source for that- I don't know what it is, it's CBS's reporting. I don't. I will not comment on leaks and sources. I very much agree with every word the president just said. And- but beyond that, I'm not commenting on some leak that several news outlets supposedly got last week about- about the former employee at DHS and whether I would quote "go after people in the administration," I agree with the president. Everybody in this administration, in any administration, should operate with integrity and honesty, and- and- and do the right thing. And if they don't, yes, of course, the Department of Justice will investigate.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Okay. Well, to that point, Democrats, if they do win in November, are talking about- when they are in control- investigating Trump officials. Vice President Vance was asked by my colleague Tony Dokoupil the other day about this scenario, and told him he will, "of course," abide by any congressional subpoenas he receives. It is the Justice Department that ultimately would decide whether to charge someone for defying a congressional subpoena. Would you, as AG, charge Trump officials for not adhering to them?
AG BLANCHE: Wait. So you just say the vice president says, "Of course, we're going to comply with the subpoena," and then ask me if I was if I'm going to prosecute--
MARGARET BRENNAN: Yes.
AG BLANCHE: --somebody who doesn't. I have no idea what the facts are around that. I have no idea. I mean, you're talking about hypothetical after hypothetical. If a crime has been committed, yes, of course we will investigate it.
MARGARET BRENNAN: The vice president answered the question and said he would. But- but for- for those who defy congressional subpoenas, should the Democrats go ahead with some of these investigations?
AG BLANCHE: Who's the "those?" Who's defying a subpoena? Who's defying a subpoena?
MARGARET BRENNAN: I'm saying, would you be open to it?
AG BLANCHE: I mean, you're literally making things up to try to get an answer out of me. Who?
MARGARET BRENNAN: The vice president was very clear in his remarks.
AG BLANCHE: To who?
MARGARET BRENNAN: Would you like to be as clear as the vice president was?
AG BLANCHE: Yes, of course. Of course, we comply with subpoenas. That we will comply with subpoenas as we always have, of course. Yes. Is there any subpoena you can identify in this administration that we haven't complied with? Has there been any allegation or any contempt of Congress finding? No, no of course not. So, I very much agree with the vice president, and we're not here to not defy subpoenas. Of course, we comply with subpoenas.
MARGARET BRENNAN: Attorney General Todd Blanche, thank you for your time today. Face the Nation will be back in one minute. Stay with us.