FBI Agents Question Donors to Alaska Senate Candidate Who Shares Incumbent's Name

The FBI has started contacting donors to Dan J. Sullivan, the Alaska U.S. Senate candidate who has the same name as the Republican incumbent, to ask whether they were deceived about who they were supporting. The outreach marks a sharp escalation in a federal investigation that officials have now confirmed is criminal in nature.

Agents have approached donors in at least two remote Alaska communities and a couple in Massachusetts. One Anchorage-based agent went to a boat dealership in Petersburg, the small fishing town where the candidate lives. The community can only be reached by air or water. The agent left a business card for Charles Flint, who told The Associated Press he has known the candidate for years as a respected teacher and musician.

Flint gave $500 over the summer to what he viewed as a long-shot bid. He said he expected the candidate to have expenses and admired him for "throwing his hat in the ring." According to Flint, the agent asked his son, who works at the dealership, whether Flint felt he had been "misled" about the candidate he backed.

Flint, who has been out of town, rejected that idea in a phone interview. "I don't feel like I've been misled at all," he said, adding that he did not plan to call the agent. He said he intends to rank Democrat Mary Peltola first and Dan J. Sullivan second. "Everybody knows who the incumbent is," he said.

In Sitka, two other FBI agents briefly interviewed another donor at their doorstep. The donor asked not to be named because of the ongoing investigation. They said the agents wanted to know whether the contribution went to the Sullivan the donor meant to support. The exchange lasted about five minutes, and the donor described the agents as "scrupulously polite" and stressed that the conversation was voluntary.

In Groton, Massachusetts, donor Pat Campbell said agents came to her door Friday and spoke with her husband. In a text message to the AP, she wrote that they said they were investigating fraud in election contributions. "No, we had not been defrauded. We knew to whom we had contributed," she wrote.

The visits followed confirmation of the criminal probe and a Justice Department push on Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots, so that potential voter confusion can be examined. U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the inquiry has run for several months. He said recent New York Times revelations that Peltola's campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting the retired teacher led to a "significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska."

President Donald Trump addressed the matter Saturday night at a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago, calling it "voter fraud at the highest level." He suggested the candidate had gone into hiding, saying, "Nobody can find him now, so he knows he's guilty." Without offering details, Trump also said top Democratic leaders outside Alaska might have been involved and should be prosecuted.

Peltola, a former congresswoman, is challenging Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan in Tuesday's ranked choice general election, in a race that could prove pivotal. At a Friday rally in Anchorage, she again denied taking part in any plan to put candidates on the ballot to hurt the incumbent. She said she was "deeply offended" and called the allegations "garbage" and part of a "smear campaign" meant to suppress turnout. "I know I can beat Dan Sullivan. I do not need any help winning this race," she told a small group of volunteers at an aviation museum.