Trump Administration Steps Up Criminal Probe Into Alaska Senate Race

WASHINGTON, Oct 31 – President Donald Trump’s administration has stepped up criminal and civil investigations into claims that Democrats helped recruit a spoiler candidate in the Alaska Senate race, officials said on Friday. The move adds new uncertainty to Tuesday’s midterm elections.

Michael Heyman is the top federal prosecutor in Alaska. At a news conference in Anchorage, Michael Heyman said a New York Times report published on Wednesday had led to a surge of resources from the Federal Bureau of Investigation. He said he has put several prosecutors on the case, and that investigators are acting quickly and intensely.

“Every Alaskan deserves a fair election, and they’re going to get one,” Michael Heyman said. He added that anyone who attempts to deceive voters will be held accountable.

Michael Heyman said the investigation has been going on for several months. He wouldn’t say which possible crimes are being looked at, or who is a target. He also stressed that investigators have not concluded that any crime took place.

It is highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even to confirm that one exists.

The race matters well beyond Alaska. It’s widely seen as one of the Senate contests that could decide which party controls the chamber. Trump’s Republicans now hold a narrow majority.

At the center of the case is a candidate with a familiar name. Republican Senator Dan Sullivan is running for reelection against Democrat Mary Peltola. A third candidate on the ballot is named Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. He’s a retired teacher who lives in a remote fishing village.

The New York Times reported this week that staff from the Mary Peltola campaign and from the Democratic Party’s Senate campaign arm helped recruit Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to run. The report cited text messages from campaign staff. Reuters said it has not independently confirmed the report.

Mary Peltola has denied knowing about any effort to recruit the second Sullivan. Speaking in Juneau on Thursday, Mary Peltola said she knew of no other candidate in the race except herself and the incumbent. The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has also denied any role. Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. has said he did not coordinate with the Mary Peltola campaign.

Trump has called for Mary Peltola to be prosecuted. “This is voter fraud at the highest level,” Trump told a rally in Florida on Friday.

The Justice Department is also pursuing the case in civil court. On Friday, it asked a federal judge to ensure that ballots potentially affected by voter confusion are preserved. In its filing, the department also sought assistance in obtaining documents from the Democratic campaign and other parties as it investigates whether Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.’s candidacy is frivolous or fraudulent.

A week earlier, the department sued Alaska in an effort to block the state from certifying the Senate result if Senator Dan Sullivan loses because of the third candidate’s presence on the ballot. At the time, Trump told reporters that he had ordered the lawsuit.

Separately, Alaska’s Republican governor, Mike Dunleavy, ordered his own investigation into Mary Peltola this week.

It isn’t clear what laws, if any, may have been broken. Both major parties have used a tactic known as ballot stacking, in which they quietly back lesser-known candidates to pull votes from their opponents.

Democrats have condemned both the lawsuit and the criminal probe. They say the Justice Department is trying to influence the result of the election.

The stakes are high for both sides. If Democrats win one or both chambers of Congress, they plan to open investigations into the Trump administration. They also plan to press the president to end the war with Iran.

Alaska is not the only state facing federal action. In California, the Justice Department has issued subpoenas to election officials as part of a criminal investigation into alleged noncitizens voting.

The department has also sought to prevent California from counting mail ballots from more than 20,000 registered voters it says are likely noncitizens. On Friday, a federal appeals court rejected that request for the second time this week. A lower-court judge had also denied it, warning that the move could disenfranchise thousands of legal voters. California officials have said the federal list of suspected noncitizens is unreliable.

Election officials across the country say they are preparing for further disruptions. The administration has sued roughly 30 states in an effort to obtain voter rolls containing full personal details.

Jonathan Diaz works for the Campaign Legal Center, a nonpartisan group. Jonathan Diaz said he believes the flood of lawsuits is meant to create confusion and doubt, and to set the stage for challenging the results after Tuesday.

Trump has for years falsely claimed that his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden was caused by widespread fraud. Studies and investigations have found that voter fraud in the United States is extremely rare.

Even so, voters are turning out in large numbers. A record 49 million people have already cast early ballots, more than in any other midterm election in the nation’s history, according to the University of Florida’s Election Lab. Pope Leo, who was born in the United States, also voted by mail.

On Friday, Trump said he would go ahead with weekend rallies in Iowa and Kansas, a day after he canceled them. He told reporters at the White House that Republicans in those states had called and asked him to reconsider.