Trump calls for prosecution after report of Peltova campaign scheme to mislead Alaska voters
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President Donald Trump urged criminal charges against Mary Peltova and the second Dan Sullivan after a New York Times report described efforts by her campaign to recruit a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. Peltova denied wrongdoing, but Republicans said the episode shows a deliberate attempt to deceive voters.
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that Mary Peltova and the second Dan Sullivan should face criminal prosecution, following a New York Times report that her campaign discussed recruiting a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan. Trump added on social media that Peltova should “suffer the legal and political consequences for what she has done.”
The Times obtained text messages showing members of Peltova’s campaign talking about finding a namesake candidate, eventually selecting Dan J. Sullivan, a retired schoolteacher from Petersburg, who qualified for the August primary and appears on the November ballot. Sullivan has denied any coordination with Peltova’s team, stating, “Zero, none, zilch.”
Peltova’s campaign responded that her candidacy reflects Alaskans’ desire for a champion to lower costs and put the state first, and that “no tweet or threat from any DC politician will keep her away from that fight.” The campaign also asserted it had no involvement with either Sullivan campaign.
Republican U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski, who has endorsed Sullivan, said Alaskans “deserve the honest truth from Mary and her campaign” and described the revelations as a “pattern of lies and cover-ups.”
Nate Adams, spokesperson for Sen. Sullivan’s campaign, claimed that “Mary Peltova, her campaign and her senior advisers colluded with the DSCC, national Democrat lawyers and Alaska Democrat operatives to recruit candidates to deliberately confuse and deceive voters.”
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee denied any role in the recruitment, stating, “The DSCC is not involved with Dan J. Sullivan.”
Legal analysts noted that the controversy is unlikely to affect a separate lawsuit filed by the Department of Justice, which Trump directed to seek a halt to certification of a potential Peltova victory. Derek Muller, a law professor at Notre Dame, called the tactic “a dirty campaign trick” but said the decision now rests with voters.
The Alaska Supreme Court previously ruled that Dan J. Sullivan met the qualifications to appear on the ballot, despite a state elections official’s earlier finding that his candidacy was filed “with a purpose to confuse or mislead.”