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Patrick Gaspard says Democrats aren't being "punked" by Trump's election moves this time

Antonia Hylton's MS NOW panel weighs the Justice Department's Alaska lawsuit and asks whether its election-season actions could have waited.

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MS NOW Story of October 26, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of MS NOW's most watched videos since yesterday, with 98,682 views.

Democrats aren’t being ‘PUNKED’ by Trump’s election meddling this time: Fmr. Amb.

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:00Hylton outlines concerns that the Justice Department is eroding its traditional 60-day pre-election restraint.
1:09The report covers DOJ letters to California counties and federal actions involving Democratic lawmakers, including Ilhan Omar.
3:31James Sample argues that Todd Blanche has gone further than any previous Justice Department.
5:39Patrick Gaspard says Democrats are "not being punked this time."
6:43After Blanche's CNN clip, Sample argues that the Alaska suit lacks merit under the National Voter Registration Act.
8:25Gaspard describes the toll of investigations on Omar and voter shifts he saw in Mississippi.

The Justice Department has long followed an unwritten habit known as the "60-day rule": in the weeks just before an election, it avoids public steps that could sway the vote. Antonia Hylton opens her MS NOW segment with concerns that the rule is fading under the Trump administration as the midterms approach.

She cites letters the department sent to California counties about non-citizen voting, along with federal actions involving Democratic lawmakers. One of them is Rep. Ilhan Omar, whose home was raided and whom Donald Trump keeps attacking at rallies, according to the report. The program shows one of those rally attacks.

Hylton's first guest, Hofstra law professor James Sample, argues that Attorney General Todd Blanche has broken with his predecessors and acts more like the president's personal lawyer. "It is offensive to the rule of law, and he is not acting as the attorney general of the United States," Sample says.

The panel then plays Blanche's CNN "State of the Union" defense of the department's lawsuit over Alaska's Senate race, in which he says the president is responsible for making sure elections run properly. Sample counters that the suit has no statutory basis under the National Voter Registration Act, and he calls the department's approach "strategic Machiavellian behavior." To the question of whether any of it could have waited until after the vote, he answers: "this can wait until after."

Patrick Gaspard, a former U.S. ambassador to South Africa, says the administration is using federal agencies against its opponents, and in particular against Black women. He also describes political shifts he saw among voters during a visit to Mississippi. He gives the segment its title line: "Democrats are not being punked this time."

The segment drew nearly 100,000 views in its first seven hours, making it the channel's second most watched new video since yesterday.

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