India, Oct. 24 -- US President Donald Trump on Friday openly claimed credit for directing the Justice Department to preemptively sue to block certification of Alaska's Senate election results if Republican incumbent Senator Dan Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola. The startling personal declaration places the US president at the centre of a legal manoeuvre election law experts say is without constitutional foundation and without modern precedent.

"I'm the one who said do it," Trump told reporters upon arriving in Florida on Friday, confirming that he personally directed the Department of Justice to file the lawsuit to block certification of the Senate election in Alaska if Republican Senator Dan Sullivan loses in November.

The Justi...