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.
asserted
prosecutors → step → 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.
uncertain
targets → tell → Sen.
President Donald Trump earlier this week called for the criminal prosecution of Mary Peltola, the Democratic candidate, and her campaign.
asserted
Trump → call → Peltola
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.
asserted
campaign → follow → 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.
asserted
she → run → 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.
asserted
she → want → Juneau
“I knew nothing about any other candidate on the ballot except for me and the incumbent.
asserted
I → know → me
That is all I have ever known about.
asserted
I → know → ?
I am not interested in tricking voters.”
asserted
I → trick → voters
She alluded to the controversy in a fundraising post on Thursday.
asserted
She → allude → 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.
asserted
we → win → tariffs
It won’t work.”
asserted
It → work → ?
The race is considered key to control of the U.S. Senate.
asserted
race → consider → Senate
It is among a handful of Senate contests this year expected to determine control of the chamber.
asserted
It → expect → chamber
Trump previously directed his Department of Justice to sue to block certification of the Senate race if Democrat Mary Peltola defeats Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan.
asserted
Peltola → direct → Sullivan
State attorneys 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.”
uncertain
that → ask → interest
Trump on Thursday cast doubt on whether Peltola would be seated in the Senate even if she won.
asserted
she → cast → Senate
“Well, you’re going to have to see what happens,” the president told reporters on his way to a rally in South Carolina.
asserted
president → go → Carolina
“It’s hard to believe that she could even be allowed to run.”
uncertain
she → ’ → ?
Later, as he rallied for Republican Sen. Darline Graham, Trump said he felt Peltola “actually should be removed from the ballot and prosecuted.”
asserted
Peltola → rally → ballot
Asked about the reporting on Wednesday, Trump told journalists, “I think they should be prosecuted.”
asserted
they → ask → journalists
Alaska’s Republican governor has also ordered an investigation
He earlier had posted on social media that “Peltola should suffer the Legal and Political consequences for what she has done.”
asserted
she → order → what
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in a Fox News interview on Wednesday that he wouldn't discuss any criminal investigations, but accused Democrats of “cheating.”
“They are trying to take votes away from the incumbent, not by running an election, not by running on issues but by putting up a person with the same name,” Blanche said.
asserted
Blanche → say → name
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday did not go as far as Trump did in calling for Peltola to be prosecuted, but said he supported a probe into possible election fraud.
asserted
he → go → fraud
“I mean, she is a person who, for months now, has pretended that she has had nothing to do with the fact that they have put a fraudulent person, a person explicitly designed to confuse Alaska voters, on the ballot,” Vance told reporters ahead of a campaign trip to Texas.
asserted
Vance → mean → Texas
“She is trying to steal a Senate seat from the voters of Alaska, and it’s disgraceful.”
asserted
it → try → Alaska
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.”
asserted
reporting → order → votes
Peltola dismisses the claims as a ‘distraction’
“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.
uncertain
reporting → dismiss → board
Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats' behest and has said he had no contact with Peltola's campaign.
asserted
he → deny → campaign
“Zero, none, zilch,” he said in June after announcing his run.
asserted
he → say → run
Earlier this year, a top state elections official ruled Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., a retired schoolteacher in the small fishing community of Petersburg, ineligible for the primary ballot, concluding that his declaration of candidacy was filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead and to thereby compromise the ballot’s fairness or neutrality.”
asserted
declaration → rule → fairness
The case went to the Alaska Supreme Court, which ruled he was qualified to run.
asserted
he → go → Court
Alaskan voters will see “Dan S. Sullivan” identified as a “registered Republican” and “incumbent” on their ballots, while “Daniel J. Sullivan Jr.” will not have a party affiliation.
asserted
Jr. → see → affiliation
The New York Times reported that interviews, text messages and documents prepared for a potential lawsuit showed Peltola's team aimed to coax candidates into the race, with the aim of splitting support for the GOP senator.
asserted
team → report → senator
In Juneau, independent Carter Bancroft said he voted for Peltola on Thursday.
asserted
he → say → Thursday
“I’m very certain in the candidates I wanted to vote for and I wanted to vote for Mary Peltola,” he said.
asserted
he → ’m → Peltola
But he said the latest claims have bothered him.
uncertain
claims → say → him
State Supreme Court OK’d the other Sullivan on the ballot
asserted
Court → OK’d → ballot
He worries they give “ammunition” to Trump and others to attack Peltola or other Democratic candidates.
asserted
they → worry → Peltola
“And I think I’m bothered by shenanigans on either side,” Bancroft said, especially actions intended “to confuse things or try to trick people.”
asserted
Bancroft → think → people
…and 5 more, not listed.
The Aporia
