The Justice Department has issued more than 20 target and preservation letters in connection with the fast-moving probe into how Senate candidate Dan J. Sullivan Jr. came to run against the similarly named Republican incumbent in Alaska, according to a person familiar with the probe, who like some others in this report spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an ongoing investigation.
Among the recipients of the target letters: Marc Elias, a prominent Democratic voting rights and election lawyer, and another attorney at his firm, the person familiar with the probe said. The firm, the Elias Law Group, represents the campaign of Alaska’s Democratic Senate candidate, Mary Peltola.
In a statement, Elias did not confirm or deny receiving a target letter.
“No one should be surprised that President Trump’s Department of Justice is targeting me and my law firm on Election Day. This administration has repeatedly weaponized the DOJ against the President’s political enemies despite zero evidence of wrongdoing, and we are the latest targets,” Elias said in the statement.
Federal prosecutors are exploring the possibility of civil rights charges alleging that Democrats recruited Dan J. Sullivan, who appears on the ballot without a party affiliation, to purposely confuse voters and siphon votes away from Sen. Dan Sullivan, tipping the election toward Peltola.
Spokespeople for Sen. Sullivan as well as the campaigns for Dan J. Sullivan and Peltola did not immediately respond to requests for comment regarding the letters.
Alaska’s tight Senate race could help determine which party controls that chamber of Congress.
A target letter from prosecutors means investigators believe they have gathered substantial evidence linking the recipient to a crime. The letters are typically sent toward the end of an investigation and often invite the target to appear before a grand jury to offer evidence. The letters do not guarantee that someone will be charged.
A preservation letter calls on the recipients to save any documents related to the investigation.
The Justice Department declined to comment, citing an ongoing grand jury investigation. But the letters suggest the investigation is moving at a rapid pace.
On Tuesday, a top Washington-based official in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division was in Alaska to work on the case, according to two people familiar with the probe.
It is highly unusual for the Justice Department to wade into a politically fraught case so close to an election. Long-standing unwritten guidelines have called for the Justice Department to refrain from taking potentially public steps in a political investigation in the 60 days before an election.
But in the weeks ahead of the midterms, the Justice Department has searched and tried to prosecute numerous political foes of the president, including Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minnesota) and former FBI director James B. Comey.
In the Alaska case, Justice Department officials held an unusual news conference last week confirming the existence of the investigation.
“Every Alaskan deserves a fair election,” Alaska’s U.S. attorney, Michael J. Heyman, told reporters Friday.
Federal prosecutors have issued dozens of subpoenas and record-preservation notices seeking access to text messages and other communications related to the recruitment efforts, The Washington Post reported last week.
David Becker, the executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the timing of the letters “seems to indicate that they almost desire to interfere with the election.”
“They’re going to have a lot of explaining to do if they ever actually brought a claim here, and I don’t suspect they will,” said Becker, a former Justice Department attorney. “I think this is likely them trying to create some chaos in the election that is likely going to fail.”
Elias is the most active and best-known lawyer working on behalf of Democrats on election issues.
On Sunday, Elias briefed Senate Democrats on legal preparations over election issues in what has been a litigious season. The briefing covered ongoing litigation, expected legal challenges and plans to thwart any actions the party views as election interference, according to a Senate Democratic aide who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal talks.
In a Sunday interview with Right Side Broadcasting, President Donald Trump called out Elias and Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-New York) by name.
“The whole thing is a scam,” Trump said. “It came out of D.C. It came from Elias and all these guys, you know? Elias, the lawyer, Schumer, and they should be held responsible. This is election fraud at as high a level as I’ve ever seen.”
In other remarks to reporters Sunday, Trump called what has happened in Alaska a “Democrat con job.”
“That really started with Schumer and Elias — a lawyer, Marc Elias — and I think they should be held criminally responsible for it,” he said.
Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy has been a source of consternation for Republicans for months.
The retired teacher and former member of the Alaska Independence Party registered as a Republican shortly before filing to enter the race this year. Alaska election officials moved to boot him from the ballot in June, agreeing that his entry into the race was meant to confuse voters. But a state court ordered him back on the ballot that same month, saying insufficient evidence had been presented to remove him.
The state’s Supreme Court later affirmed that decision. Dan J. Sullivan went on to receive only 2.5 percent of the vote during Alaska’s Republican primary, but that was enough to qualify him for the general-election ballot. Then, just weeks before the Tuesday’s vote, the Justice Department sought to intervene.
Department lawyers asked a federal judge to block certification of the results in the event of a Republican loss, calling for an investigation into voters’ intent. The court rejected that request Sunday, and the department has filed an appeal.
The grand jury investigation into Dan J. Sullivan’s candidacy had been underway since the summer, The Post has reported.
Matthew Choi contributed to this report.
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