Prosecutors weigh conspiracy charges over Sullivan namesake effort
The Justice Department on Thursday expanded its criminal investigation into the alleged manipulation of the Alaska Senate race, sending dozens of new grand jury subpoenas, people familiar with the matter said. The subpoenas seek information about an alleged effort to recruit an independent challenger with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, the people said.
A department official said prosecutors are exploring whether to bring charges alleging a conspiracy to violate voters’ rights. Federal prosecutors in Alaska and the Justice Department’s civil rights division are leading the probe. The Justice Department first began investigating in August.
The latest moves were prompted by a report from the New York Times that campaign staffers for the state’s Democratic Senate candidate, former Rep. Mary Peltola, were part of an effort to stack Alaska’s ballot in a way that could undermine the incumbent Sullivan’s electoral prospects. The report contained information the Justice Department hadn’t previously obtained, the department official said.
In a statement following the Times report, Peltola’s campaign said it had “no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.”
The other candidate on the state ballot is Dan J. Sullivan Jr., a retiree from a fishing village who shares the incumbent’s first and last name. The Alaska Republican Party had previously tried to get him off the ballot, arguing he was a Democratic plant. He denied that in an interview with The Wall Street Journal last month. The Alaska Supreme Court ruled both Sullivans could appear on the ballot.
Both candidates are listed with middle initials, and the current senator’s party affiliation and incumbent status appear next to his name. Alaska uses a ranked-choice system, in which voters rank candidates in order of preference.
On Wednesday, hours after the Times published its report, President Trump called for Peltola to be criminally prosecuted and removed from the ballot. “I think they should be prosecuted. To me, that’s voter fraud at the highest level,” Trump told reporters, referring to Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan Jr. Trump also said both “should be taken off the ballot.”
Trump said last week that he had directed the Justice Department to file a lawsuit over the Alaska ballot. The lawsuit asks a judge to delay certifying the election result if the incumbent Republican senator seems likely to lose — and the number of votes cast for the other Sullivan might change the outcome.
The escalation comes after Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy, a Republican, ordered a state investigation into the same allegations. Trump called Dunleavy early Thursday morning, the governor said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, to inquire about the status of the state investigation. “He’s just wondering what we were doing up here, and I said we’re investigating at the state level,” Dunleavy recalled.
Dunleavy promised a “thorough and by the book” investigation, but he said the probe may not be wrapped up before Election Day. “Where there’s smoke, there’s fire,” Dunleavy said of the controversy. “There’s a lot of smoke here, and it’s getting hot.”
The Alaska Senate race is one of the most closely watched contests in the country, with polls showing a tight race as Democrats try to wrest back control of the chamber from Republicans.