FBI agents served Alaska Senate candidate Gerald Heikes with a grand jury subpoena days before Election Day while he was helping a friend hang drywall, he told CNN in an exclusive interview. The subpoena, reviewed by CNN Investigates, seeks records tied to Democrat Mary Peltola’s campaign and several political action committees.
“They want me to appear and tell them what I know and how I was recruited, but I wasn’t recruited. I just took a chance,” Heikes told the network.
Heikes, a conservative drywall contractor, said an operative whose name he didn’t know pitched him on running for Senate earlier this year. He said he was already considering a run for office and settled on the Senate after that meeting.
“If they think I’m an operative, they’re wrong,” he said.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether operatives aligned with Peltola tried to recruit candidates who could siphon votes from Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK). The subpoena was dated one day after the bombshell New York Times report claimed Peltola’s campaign was behind the effort.
One of the candidates in the race, Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., shares the incumbent’s name. Peltola has denied knowing about any recruitment effort, and the Justice Department declined to comment.
CNN previously reported that newly formed PACs spent millions attacking the incumbent and backing Heikes, who said he didn’t know who was behind the spending.
Heikes was running third with about 2 percent of the vote and roughly a quarter of ballots still outstanding, CNN reported.
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