‘It’s Not Illegal’; CNN’s Bash DEFENDS Alaska Dems Trying to Dupe Voters in Senate Race

On Wednesday morning, The New York Times released a bombshell story admitting Alaska Democrats conspired with their Washington handlers to find a second Dan Sullivan to run for a Senate seat in hopes of confusing enough voters to back him and not incumbent Republican Dan S. Sullivan, which would throw the race to Democrat and former Congresswoman Mary Peltola.

Shamefully but unsurprisingly, CNN openly defended Alaska Democrats on Wednesday’s Inside Politics, repeatedly asserting “it’s not illegal” and “not new” for both parties to engage in “dirty tricks,” and that “the law is the law” that settles in the favor of Democrats.

Host Dana Bash — who spent Sunday’s State of the Union clutching her proverbial pearls over a Justice Department lawsuit against Alaska because the state Supreme Court refused to intervene — led the way.

First, she teased a Times story “alleging Democratic dirty tricks.” She then summarized The Times article (click “expand”):

We start with that breaking news on the Alaska Senate race. The New York Times is reporting evidence that they say come from text messages and source interviews, that it was, in fact, Democrats who recruited the other Dan Sullivan into that Senate race to run against the incumbent GOP senator with the same name, Dan Sullivan. According to The Times, a “Peltola staffer” — Peltola is the Democrat running, Mary Peltola — said, “received unusual instructions from top campaign aides: Find as many people named Dan Sullivan in Alaska as you can. The staffer compiled...The plan, worked” — “complied” — rather, “the plan worked,” when a retired teacher named Dan Sullivan jumped into the race. It goes on to say, “from Washington to Anchorage, advisers participated in regular conversations about the effort.” Now, the Peltola campaign told The Times it “has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign and did not recruit any candidates into the race.” More on that in a minute.

Moments later, though, Bash was unapologetic in her defense of this election interference, likely because she’d support Democrats flipping the seat.

Bash told senior political analyst Mark Preston that, even though The Times provided “some pretty detailed information”: “So, this is not illegal. It is not new.”

The most she could do was fret Democrats are now “scrambling,” and there’s “so much focus on this particular issue” because of the DOJ “lawsuit to try to pause any kind of — you know, formalizing the vote until things are worked out.”

Preston agreed and made sure to reemphasize her point: “It’s not illegal, and it’s not new.”

Preston’s regret was more to offer a lament that his friends on the left were caught:

But what is new is that nowadays that you really can’t get away with doing these things. There’s always going to be some kind of trail, you know, and in this case, these are text messages. And then, of course, probably led to live interviews by The New York Times.

Preston also sought to insulate national Democrats from the case, arguing he would “want to find out who in Washington actually was involved, because I think at that level, you can discern how involved the national party was in, you know, making this happen.”

He offered another lament instead of outrage, bemoaning that this story “really hurts Democrats on the credibility issue.”

Bash doubled down on this being fair game. She told viewers that “it’s not illegal” even if you could view these moves as “dirty tricks” and “untoward.”

In a totally predictable move, she argued this story should be seen as something both sides are guilty of, so there shouldn’t be a pile-on against Democrats for trying to throw a Senate seat:

It is something that Democrats have tried to do in races where they think it could be to their advantage to run candidates that could siphon votes away from Republicans, and Republicans do the same. I mean, just in Alaska alone, Mary Peltola, who’s now on the ballot for the Senate, she lost her House race two years ago. On that ballot, there was a candidate who was literally in prison who was reportedly recruited and — and kept on the ballot at the behest of Republicans. There’s a socialist running in Ohio with the hopes of taking votes away from the Democrat, Sherrod Brown. These are dirty tricks. They are legal, dirty tricks. But again, at a time when you have a President and his — supporters, particularly those with very big platforms, trying to undermine the election, and Alaska is a potentially key and even pivotal, pivotal Senate seat that could determine the outcome of the control of Senate, it’s a big deal.

White House reporter Alayna Treene joined the cause as well for Peltola and the Dan J. Sullivan operation.

Notice that Treene also used the talking point that what’s happened “was not illegal”: “It’s absolutely a big deal, and I think there’s no question, despite as you all have pointed out, and I think it’s worth saying, again, this was not illegal, something that they are going to blow up.”

Bash wrapped the Alaska discussion with yet another defense of this assault on the integrity of the ballot box.

This time, she hid behind the state Supreme Court allowing Dan J. Sullivan to remain on the ballot, adding, “the law is the law, and it’s unclear whether or not the federal government has a role here, but we will — we will see.”

To see the relevant CNN transcript from October 28, click here.