NYT report on the campaign in Alaska and the Ilhan Omar investigation stirs up political debate in the US

The final phase of the campaign in Alaska was taken over by a controversy over the electoral ballot and an investigation involving Representative Ilhan Omar, Democrat from Minnesota. According to Fox News, political analyst Guy Benson and contributor Jason Chaffetz discussed the two topics on the program "Fox & Friends Weekend."

In Benson's assessment, candidate Mary Peltola faces a problem in saying that she is not there to deceive voters, in a context in which, according to him, her campaign was built around "dismantling the system". The analyst stated that she insists on saying that she did not know about the ballot scheme, but that a report in the newspaper "The New York Times" contradicts her.

Benson described the text as devastating. According to the presenter, the investigation is based on extensive documentary evidence and 12 sources, including a former personal advisor to Peltola, mentioned by name in the report, who said she was certain that this was happening. Fox News did not detail, in the transcript, the exact mechanism of the scheme.

Doubts about the result and early voting

One of the concerns raised in the program is that the result of the attempt to confuse voters should only be known after the election. Asked about the possibility of Alaska failing to certify the election if Peltola wins, Chaffetz said that this would depend on the Justice Department's investigation, which, in his assessment, should have started a long time ago. He stated that authorities are already dealing with the case.

Chaffetz noted that ranked choice voting is very confusing and that this was one of the first problems. According to him, about 10% of Alaska voters had already voted before the facts came to light. He also said that, if there is proven deception and conspiracy to defraud the process, there may be a criminal investigation capable of preventing her from taking office. For him, Republican Dan Sullivan should win the race.

The Ilhan Omar case

In the second block, the program dealt with the investigation into Ilhan Omar. Fox News claims that the investigation began during the Obama administration. Chaffetz said the Department of Homeland Security and the Department of Justice need to continue the work and criticized what he called the brakes in the previous administration. According to him, the Trump administration is handling the case correctly, including obtaining genetic material (DNA) and the work of a federal judge.

Chaffetz added that it will be up to Congress to decide whether the deputy continues to serve in office, and may be removed or not take office at all if she wins the election. Benson stated that, according to the "New York Times", Omar was married to her own brother, and said that, when recently asked if she was related to the person she married, she replied no, as far as she knew. He recalled that the parliamentarian had already called these allegations a right-wing conspiracy theory.

All statements above are attributed to program participants and have not been independently verified. There are no numbers in the transcript on markets, interest rates or public accounts, and the episode does not allow direct conclusions for the stock market or the dollar. For investors, the issue remains in the field of politics and trust in electoral institutions, to be monitored as the official count progresses.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.