Justice Department targets Democratic lawyer in Alaska ballot investigation

The Justice Department has identified Democratic election lawyer Marc Elias as a target in a criminal investigation into an effort to put a candidate with the same name as Alaska’s Republican senator on the ballot, CBS News reported. The move comes days before the election, when federal authorities have traditionally avoided investigative steps that could affect voting.

The inquiry centers on whether Democratic operatives sought to confuse voters in the race between Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan and Democrat Mary Peltola. The other candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, is a retired schoolteacher running as an independent. Peltola and her campaign have denied involvement in getting him on the ballot, and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, or DSCC, has denied a connection to the effort.

The New York Times reported that lawyers for Peltola’s campaign and senior DSCC aides were involved in recruiting the candidate. The Guardian reported that the Times also identified Elias’s law firm as involved. Efforts to place a candidate on the ballot to draw votes from a rival are controversial but not necessarily illegal.

According to CBS News, Elias is among several people who have received target letters, preservation letters or grand jury subpoenas. About 20 target and preservation letters have been issued, and the DSCC separately received a grand jury subpoena, CBS reported, citing a law enforcement source. A target letter does not mean its recipient will be charged.

“No one should be surprised that President Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me and my law firm on Election Day,” Elias said in a statement. He accused the administration of using the department against political opponents despite what he called “zero evidence of wrongdoing.” Elias said his firm would not be intimidated by what he described as a “sham investigation.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Alaska is leading the probe, with prosecutors from the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division also involved, according to CBS News. Federal prosecutors have not publicly identified the crimes they are investigating. The Guardian reported that a federal grand jury is examining potential conspiracy and donor fraud, citing the New York Times and ABC News. White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller suggested on Fox News last week that prosecutors could investigate a possible violation of a federal civil rights conspiracy law, CBS reported.

At a news conference Friday, Michael Heyman, the court-appointed U.S. attorney in Alaska, said new information had prompted a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska.” He said investigators around the country were taking steps in the case, but denied timing the activity around the election. The investigation had been proceeding quietly for months, he said, and the increased activity followed the Times report.

Trump called the effort to put the second Sullivan on the ballot a “fraud” and a “Democrat con job” over the weekend. He said Senate Democratic leader Charles Schumer and Elias “should be held criminally responsible for it.”

Elias is also involved in separate litigation over the Alaska election. A federal judge dismissed a Justice Department lawsuit Sunday that sought to block certification of the Senate results if Dan Sullivan loses, finding the department lacked standing to bring the case.