Top federal prosecutor in Alaska says criminal probe underway over would-be spoiler Senate candidate

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent.

The investigation has been ongoing for several months, but revelations this week from The New York Times that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska,” U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters.

“When credible information comes out, we are committed to pursuing that information to deceive voters and we will act on it. We are acting on it intensely and swiftly,” Heyman said.

Heyman would not say what potential crimes authorities are looking into or the targets of the probe, but encouraged the public to come forward with tips that could help investigators.

It’s highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even confirm its existence. And the timing of the press conference is particularly notable given that the Justice Department has had a longstanding practice of avoiding taking public steps in the weeks leading up to an election that could be perceived as attempting to influence a political outcome.

Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot, where Peltola is challenging Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

“I just want to clear the air,” she said at a campaign rally at a downtown bar in Juneau, Alaska’s capital. “I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about. I am not interested in tricking voters.”

Federal prosecutors this week issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola’s campaign. “Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.

The race is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber.

Trump had previously directed his Department of Justice to sue to block certification of the Senate race should Peltola defeat Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.

State attorneys have asked a court to rule on the Justice Department’s lawsuit by Monday, saying the case could “cast a cloud over Alaska’s election that is contrary to the public interest.”

Separately, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into Peltola, saying the newspaper’s reporting “reveals disturbing new evidence of an organized effort to manipulate Alaska’s elections by recruiting candidates — including one with the same name as an incumbent U.S. Senator — to deliberately confuse voters and misdirect their votes.”

“Deliberately tricking voters into casting their ballots for someone else strikes at the integrity of our elections,” Dunleavy added, noting that the reporting “substantially supports” earlier findings by the state’s elections board into the matter.

Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won the election. “Well, you’re going to have to see what happens,” the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina. “It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”

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Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska.