Justice Department’s Dan Sullivan criminal probe accelerates after Alaska campaign revelations

The Justice Department has dramatically accelerated a criminal probe into whether Alaska Democrats sought to confuse voters by recruiting a Senate candidate intended to siphon votes from the Republican, issuing dozens of new grand jury subpoenas and homing in on new potential charges, according to people familiar with the investigation.

The moves came on the heels of a New York Times report published Wednesday describing an alleged coordinated effort linked to Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign. The report provided investigators material that they hadn’t previously obtained, two officials familiar with the matter said.

Federal prosecutors issued more than 40 grand jury subpoenas and record preservation notices to key targets by that evening, one of the officials said.

Additional subpoenas are expected on Thursday, that person added.

The Alaska activity comes on the heels of an already frenetic series of Justice Department actions that have marked a stark difference with previous administrations, including the first Trump term, when it took pains to remain out of the public eye in the weeks leading up to the election.

Justice Department officials claim the Dan Sullivans investigation, a highly-visible search of Rep. Ilhan Omar’s home, criminal charges against prominent critics of the president, and challenging voter rolls in California and other states, are normal and time-sensitive law enforcement activity.

They also frame the election-related efforts in Alaska and other states as intended to safeguard the votes, not sway the election as critics have alleged.

The federal investigation over Daniel J. Sullivan, nicknamed “Decoy Dan” by his opponents, had been moving at a slow clip, people familiar with the matter said.

Republican state officials had sought to disqualify the Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, arguing his was not a genuine candidacy but rather an attempt to confuse voters who wanted to vote for incumbent Sen. Daniel Sullivan. But the state supreme court rejected those efforts and restored the dueling Sullivans on the ballot.

Michael Heyman, the US Attorney in Alaska, recused himself early in the federal criminal investigation in part because he was in discussions with Senators Sullivan and Lisa Murkowski for a judgeship nomination in the state, sources familiar with the matter said. That left the investigation to be run by career officials in his office and prosecutors from the department’s Civil Rights Division.

The investigation had already roiled the US Attorney’s office in Alaska, one of the officials said, where some career prosecutors have balked at aspects of the probe and whether the effort broke federal law or simply represents electioneering dirty tricks. A department official denied the alleged backlash.

Before Wednesday, prosecutors had issued some grand jury subpoenas and interviewed witnesses, one of the sources said, though at least one of the witnesses has largely gone quiet in recent months.

After the Times article published, some department officials questioned why the Times appeared to have evidence that prosecutors had not yet obtained.

Heymen un-recused Wednesday afternoon at the request of department leadership.

“Suddenly the options in the criminal case became much wider,” a department official said Thursday.

A second department official said investigators were looking to potentially bring civil rights charges, including a deprivation of rights charge that more typically is levied against law enforcement officials for wrongdoing.

Kerry Tasker/Reuters

“I think they should be prosecuted,” President Donald Trump said Wednesday, referring to Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan. “To me, that’s voter fraud at the highest level.”

Separately, department officials filed a long-shot lawsuit last wee seeking to delay certification if Sen. Sullivan loses and the votes case for Daniel J. Sullivan under the ranked choice system would have been enough to change the outcome.

Senior department attorneys worked quickly to amend that lawsuit, which proposes an undefined “investigation” into whether voters were misled, after the Times article was published.

Alaska’s Republican-led elections office is pressing a court to dismiss the case quickly, arguing that lawsuit seeks to sow “doubt” and will “cast a cloud over” the contest. Because of Alaska’s ranked-choice system, it could be weeks before the winner of the Senate race is declared.

Critics have slammed the lawsuit as political maneuvering, particularly after Trump told reporters he directed it. Attorney General Todd Blanche tried to walk back the assertion by saying in an interview days later that Justice Department was conducting its own research, but declined to discuss his conversations with Trump, who had publicly raised the issue for months.

State and federal officials briefly discussed a potential settlement in the case but have been unable to agree on what one source described as a “middle-of-the-road approach.” Among the proposals was providing additional instructions for poll workers to clarify for voters which Sullivan is which.

Some inside the department privately admit that the Alaska lawsuit, which is all but destined to fail, still serves a purpose by creating headlines that warn Alaskans about what one source described as a “massive voter fraud attempt.”

A state official told CNN that there are examples of voters who are well-informed about the dueling Sullivans still erroneously filling out their ballots and having to seek new ballots. It’s unclear how many of the spoiled ballots are related to the Sullivans confusion.

It’s a “preservation lawsuit” one federal official told CNN. “It will allow us to challenge the election if a challenge becomes necessary.”

据知情人士透露，司法部已大幅加快对阿拉斯加民主党人是否试图通过招募一名旨在从共和党人手中分走选票的参议院候选人来迷惑选民的刑事调查，并发出了数十份新的大陪审团传票，同时重点关注新的潜在指控。

此前，《纽约时报》周三发表了一篇报道，描述了一起据称与民主党参议员候选人玛丽·佩尔托拉竞选活动有关的协同行动。两位知情官员表示，该报道为调查人员提供了他们此前未曾获得的材料。

一位官员表示，到当晚，联邦检察官已向关键目标发出 40 多份大陪审团传票和记录保存通知。

该人士补充说，预计周四还会发出更多传票。

阿拉斯加的行动紧随司法部一系列已经十分密集的行动之后，这与以往的政府（包括特朗普的第一任期）形成了鲜明对比，当时司法部在选举前的几周里竭力避免出现在公众视野中。

司法部官员声称，丹·沙利文的调查、对众议员伊尔汗·奥马尔住所的高调搜查、对总统的著名批评者提起刑事诉讼以及对加利福尼亚州和其他州的选民名册提出质疑，都是正常的、有时效性的执法活动。

他们还将阿拉斯加和其他州的选举相关举措描述为旨在保护选票，而不是像批评者所指控的那样影响选举。

知情人士透露，针对丹尼尔·J·沙利文（被对手戏称为“诱饵丹”）的联邦调查进展缓慢。

共和党州官员曾试图取消丹尼尔·J·沙利文的参选资格，理由是他的参选并非出于真心，而是为了混淆选民，让他们误以为是现任参议员丹尼尔·沙利文。但州最高法院驳回了这些努力，恢复了两位沙利文的参选资格。

据知情人士透露，阿拉斯加州联邦检察官迈克尔·海曼在联邦刑事调查初期就主动回避，部分原因是当时他正与参议员苏利文和丽莎·穆尔科斯基商讨在该州的法官提名事宜。这使得调查工作只能由他办公室的职业官员和司法部民权司的检察官负责。

一位官员表示，这项调查已经激怒了阿拉斯加的美国检察官办公室，一些资深检察官对调查的某些方面表示反对，并质疑此举是否违反了联邦法律，或者仅仅是竞选中的肮脏伎俩。一位部门官员否认了所谓的强烈反对。

一位消息人士称，在周三之前，检察官已经发出了一些大陪审团传票并采访了证人，但至少有一名证人在最近几个月里基本上保持沉默。

《纽约时报》的文章发表后，一些部门官员质疑，为什么《纽约时报》似乎掌握了检察官尚未获得的证据。

应部门领导的要求，海曼于周三下午取消了回避。

“刑事案件中的选择突然变得更加广泛，”一位部门官员周四表示。

第二位部门官员表示，调查人员正在考虑提出侵犯公民权利的指控，包括剥夺权利的指控，这种指控通常针对执法人员的不当行为。

凯瑞·塔斯克/路透社

“我认为他们应该受到起诉，”唐纳德·特朗普总统周三表示，他指的是佩尔托拉和丹·J·沙利文。“在我看来，这是最高级别的选民欺诈。”

另外，上周，教育部官员提起了一项胜算渺茫的诉讼，试图在苏利文参议员败选的情况下推迟认证，而根据排序复选制，丹尼尔·J·苏利文的得票数足以改变选举结果。

《纽约时报》的文章发表后，该部门高级律师迅速修改了诉讼，该诉讼提议对选民是否受到误导进行一项定义模糊的“调查”。

阿拉斯加州由共和党控制的选举办公室正敦促法院尽快驳回此案，理由是该诉讼意在散布“疑虑”，并将“给选举蒙上阴影”。由于阿拉斯加州采用排序复选制，参议院选举的获胜者可能需要数周时间才能确定。

批评人士抨击这起诉讼是政治操纵，尤其是在特朗普告诉记者是他指示提起诉讼之后。几天后，司法部长托德·布兰奇在接受采访时试图收回这一说法，称司法部正在进行内部调查，但他拒绝透露与特朗普的谈话内容。此前几个月，特朗普已公开提出过这个问题。

州和联邦官员曾就此案的潜在和解方案进行过简短讨论，但未能就一位消息人士所说的“折中方案”达成一致。其中一项提议是向投票站工作人员提供额外指示，以便向选民澄清哪位沙利文是哪位候选人。

该部门内部一些人私下承认，阿拉斯加的诉讼几乎注定会失败，但它仍然起到了一定的作用，那就是制造新闻头条，警告阿拉斯加人注意一位消息人士所描述的“大规模选民欺诈企图”。

一位州政府官员告诉CNN，有些选民虽然对两位苏利文竞选总统的情况非常了解，但仍然错误地填写了选票，不得不重新申请选票。目前尚不清楚有多少废票与苏利文竞选总统的混乱有关。

一位联邦官员告诉CNN，这是一起“维护选举结果的诉讼”。“这将使我们能够在必要时对选举结果提出质疑。”