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Justice Department probes alleged Democratic plot behind Alaska ‘Decoy Dan’ candidate
ReJustice Department probes alleged Democratic plot behind Alaska ‘Decoy Dan’ candidate
The Justice Department is investigating whether Democratic operatives recruited a namesake candidate to draw votes from Republican Senator Dan Sullivan in Alaska, a probe critics call federal overreach.
The Justice Department is investigating whether Democratic operatives recruited a candidate with the same name as Republican Senator Dan Sullivan to siphon votes away from him in Alaska's Senate race. The candidate, Daniel J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher who appears on the ballot without a party affiliation, has been nicknamed "Decoy Dan." Liberal-leaning election-law experts have accused the Trump administration of federal overreach, while a former Federal Election Commission member argues that a prior prosecution provides a precedent for the probe.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman announced the investigation at a Friday press conference, joined by FBI officials and Alaska State Troopers. Heyman said the department was examining whether Daniel J. Sullivan was colluding with Democratic operatives tied to the campaign of Democratic candidate Mary Peltola. He did not say what criminal charges, if any, were being pursued. "I'm not making any assumptions on whether a crime has been committed or not," Heyman said. "That's why we are conducting that thorough investigation."
The Justice Department had previously sued Alaska election officials, seeking to block certification if Senator Dan Sullivan lost his re-election bid by fewer votes than those cast for Daniel J. Sullivan. The lawsuit was amended on Friday to reference reporting by The New York Times that the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and senior aides to Peltola's campaign allegedly worked to recruit candidates who could pull votes from the incumbent. Heyman cited the Times reporting repeatedly at the press conference. He said of the allegations, "We are taking that extremely seriously."
Sources at the Justice Department told Fox News on Thursday that the department had issued more than 30 subpoenas within a 24-hour span as part of its criminal investigation into the alleged collusion. The department's lawsuit was filed on October 22, and it drew condemnation from those who argued the federal government had no authority to intervene in a state election. Critics pointed to the Alaska Supreme Court's rejection of the state's effort to disqualify Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot.
Hans von Spakovsky, a former Federal Election Commission member and senior legal fellow at Advancing American Freedom, argued that the Justice Department's prosecution of Donald Trump under the Biden administration over alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election set the groundwork for the Alaska probe. Speaking to Fox News Digital, he said that critics calling the case weak were overlooking the precedent set by special counsel Jack Smith's indictment of Trump in the District of Columbia. Von Spakovsky said potential charges against Democratic operatives could rely on federal statutes similar to those used in that case, including conspiracy to defraud the United States and conspiracy against rights.
In the Trump case, prosecutors alleged that he used fraud and deceit to obstruct the federal government's process for certifying the 2020 election and conspired to deprive voters of having their lawful votes counted and honored. Von Spakovsky said prosecutors could potentially apply similar theories in Alaska if they determined that operatives knowingly recruited Daniel J. Sullivan to confuse voters and divert votes from the incumbent.
Von Spakovsky described recruiting a candidate with the same name as a political opponent as a "dirty trick," but said the recruitment itself is not necessarily a criminal violation. He said the legal analysis could change if operatives paid the candidate or provided services to help organize his campaign. Providing campaign assistance beyond volunteering counts as an in-kind contribution subject to federal reporting rules, and any failure to report such contributions could create a separate campaign-finance violation, he said. "The place you run into potential issues is not only if you just recruit a candidate, but you're being paid to recruit that candidate, and you then provide services to help him run his campaign and organize it," he said.
Critics of the probe have raised objections on several fronts. Aubrey Wieber, executive director of the progressive advocacy group 907 Initiative, which is running critical ads against Senator Sullivan, told Alaska Public Media that announcing the investigation on the eve of the election could reflect ulterior motives. "One could say it appears that they are trying to interfere in an election and put their thumb on the scale," Wieber said. Omar Noureldin, senior vice president of policy and litigation at Common Cause, argued the department's theory that two candidates sharing a name might confuse voters had already been settled by the Alaska Supreme Court in June, which ruled that the ballot labels the incumbent. "DOJ has no role in state election law," Noureldin said.
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