Former White House lawyer Ty Cobb is warning that President Donald Trump has a sinister plan to "sow chaos” after the November 3 midterm elections and could keep challenging results after ballots are cast.
Cobb, who served as special counsel during Trump's first administration, said the president's Justice Department is using lawsuits to interfere in competitive races, pointing to legal battles in Alaska and California.
In an interview with NBC News' Meet the Press, Cobb said the administration is trying to influence the election and predicted the fight would continue afterward.
"They are doing everything they can to interfere with the elections," Cobb said, warning that the effort was unlikely to end on Election Day.
Cobb cited the lawsuit in Alaska as an example in which the DOJ is trying to prevent the state from certifying its Senate election if Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan loses.
The bizarre lawsuit is about two candidates sharing the same name, Dan Sullivan. The incumbent Republican is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, while another candidate, Dan J. Sullivan, is an independent.
Trump has called for Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, Mary Peltola, to be banned and face criminal charges over a NYT report that she recruited the other Sullivan as a spoiler candidate, hoping to divide his support.
However, ballot-stacking is common and is not a crime.
Cobb said he expected the legal challenge to fail because Alaska courts have already addressed the dispute over the candidates' names.
He instead believes that it's simply a strategy by the administration to "sow chaos, confusion" and potentially discourage Democratic voters from participating.
Cobb also criticized a separate DOJ attempt to force California election officials to set aside ballots from more than 20,000 people whom federal officials suspect may be noncitizens.
A federal judge rejected the request, finding that the move threatened to disrupt an election already underway, also warning that the proposed electoral intervention could affect legal votes and pressure state officials to abandon standard procedure.
The DOJ has defended its actions as necessary to prevent illegal voting and said it would appeal the California ruling.
Cobb, however, described the California case as another meritless one and predicted more legal demands against states as voting approaches.
He also warned of additional legal challenges after November 3, predicting that the administration could target other states with subpoenas and demands.
During the interview, Cobb added that voting rights is a “fundamental aspect” of democracy, and warned that it should “not be corrupted the way that the president is corrupted virtually every other aspect of the rule of law.”
