Trump's DOJ escalates Alaska Senate probe as president demands Dem candidate Mary Peltola be prosecuted
Federal prosecutors have stepped up a criminal investigation into Alaska’s U.S. Senate race, issuing new grand jury subpoenas amid controversy over a spoiler candidate sharing the Republican incumbent’s name.
A person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press that the subpoenas sought grand jury testimony or documents and were accompanied by records-preservation demands.
Neither the number of subpoenas nor who received them was immediately clear.
The person, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to publicly discuss the ongoing probe, said more subpoenas were expected.
The Justice Department has been examining allegations for months that Dan J. Sullivan Jr. entered the race to siphon votes from the incumbent Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
The investigation’s potential targets are unclear.
President Donald Trump earlier this week called for the criminal prosecution of Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate, and her campaign.
The subpoenas followed a New York Times report that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part of an alleged effort to confuse voters.
Peltola, who is running against Sen. Dan Sullivan, denied on Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent.
“I just want to clear the air,” she said at the top of a speech in 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.”
She alluded to the controversy in a fundraising post on Thursday.
“They can’t win on their record so they’re trying to intimidate me into backing down,” she said, adding later: “This is just another distraction as they avoid answering for the skyrocketing cost of living we’re facing because of their tariffs and forever wars. It won’t work.”
The race is considered key to control of the U.S. Senate.
It is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber.
