Justice Department acts unusually early in reported Alaska grand-jury inquiry

The New York Times and ABC News report potential conspiracy and donor fraud

According to The New York Times and ABC News, a federal grand jury in Alaska is investigating potential conspiracy and donor fraud. The inquiry concerns efforts to place a man with the same name as Republican Sen. Daniel Sullivan on the Alaska Senate ballot. The Justice Department sent letters to a top Democratic election lawyer and other Democrats, including lawmakers, telling them they could become targets of the federal investigation. It was not clear how many people received the letters.

The timing of the letters was unusual, The Guardian reported. The Justice Department has long avoided taking actions that could affect an election close to Election Day, and it is not common to send target letters so early in an investigation. Receiving a target letter does not mean that a person will be charged with a crime.

One letter’s existence was confirmed by a person familiar with the matter, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss the ongoing investigation.

A photograph published with The Guardian’s report showed voters casting their ballots on 2 November at a polling station inside a shopping mall in Anchorage. The image was credited to Charly Triballeau/AFP/Getty Images.

The Justice Department’s Alaska investigation accelerated after The New York Times reported that allies of Mary Peltola were behind an effort to get someone with the same name as Alaska’s incumbent senator onto the ballot to confuse voters. The account said those allies eventually found Daniel J Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher. His name matched Republican Sen. Daniel Sullivan’s.

Peltola and her campaign denied any involvement in the ballot effort. The New York Times reported that lawyers for Peltola’s campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee were involved in the effort.

The New York Times also reported that the law firm of Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias was involved in the effort. Elias reportedly received a letter and said the Justice Department had “zero evidence of wrongdoing.”

In a statement, Elias said: “No one should be surprised that President Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me and my law firm on Election Day. This administration has repeatedly weaponized the DOJ against the President’s political enemies despite zero evidence of wrongdoing, and we are the latest targets.”

A Justice Department spokesperson said in a statement: “The Department cannot discuss ongoing investigations.” The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee did not return a request for comment.

The Guardian described trying to get candidates on the ballot to siphon votes from a rival candidate as a “known dirty trick in politics” and said the tactic is not necessarily illegal.

In a broader assessment of Justice Department conduct near the election, The Guardian said the department had “abandoned longstanding norms this year around actions close to election day.” It cited pressure on states to try not to count ballots in the final days of elections and the raid of the home of Ilhan Omar, a Democratic representative from Minnesota.

The investigation remained ongoing.