The U.S. Department of Justice on Thursday reportedly issued subpoenas in response to a report that Alaska Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign collaborated with party operatives to land a challenger with the same name as Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan on the midterm ballot. ABC News and the Associated Press reported on the subpoenas, citing sources familiar with the matter. The federal investigation comes a day after the New York Times found that the effort to recruit a second candidate named Dan Sullivan in the Senate race to be decided Tuesday was led by the Peltola campaign, which for months had denied involvement. Earlier on Thursday, Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy announced a criminal investigation into the effort, which the Times said was aimed at confusing Alaskans who wanted to support the Republican incumbent. Last week, Trump said he had ordered the Justice Department to file a lawsuit to block certification of the Senate election if Sullivan does not win. That lawsuit is pending. The subpoenas are the latest aggressive move by the Justice Department amid a politically sensitive issue in the weeks leading up to Tuesday’s midterm elections. The department has historically avoided taking overt investigative actions against candidates in the weeks leading up to an election, or other public actions that could be perceived as an attempt to influence a political outcome. Election law experts said they did not know what federal law would justify the investigation. “I don’t know what they’re issuing subpoenas to investigate because I don’t know what federal violations are involved that the Justice Department would have jurisdiction over,” said Justin Levitt, a former Justice Department official under Joe Biden. “It sure makes it seem like the goal of the investigation is to become the story.” The information came to light the same day the Justice Department issued subpoenas to California officials in an escalation of its scrutiny of local election administration. Earlier Thursday, a federal judge in California appointed a special judge to evaluate the Trump administration’s claims that the state has about 20,000 noncitizens on its voter rolls. That action came less than 24 hours after the judge rejected the Justice Department’s demand that California sequester ballots until citizenship could be verified, a ruling the department immediately appealed. For months, the Justice Department has been investigating allegations that Dan J. Sullivan Jr entered the race to mislead voters and help Peltola’s campaign. The potential targets of the Justice Department investigation are unclear, but Donald Trump earlier this week called for the criminal prosecution of Peltola and his campaign. The race is among a handful of Senate races this year that are expected to determine control of the chamber. Trump had previously ordered his Justice Department to file a lawsuit to block certification of the Senate race should Peltola defeat Republican Senator Dan S Sullivan.
