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Trump administration accelerates probe into Alaska Senate race · GNN Daily Breaking News

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  Speaker 1: The Department of Justice has significantly escalated its federal criminal
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  Speaker 1: investigation into Alaska's U.S. Senate election, issuing a new wave
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  Speaker 1: of grand jury subpoenas and filing emergency motions in federal
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  Speaker 1: court to segregate ballots just 48 hours before Election Day.
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  Speaker 1: The widening federal probe centers on allegations that operatives aligned
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  Speaker 1: with Democratic candidate Mary Paltola conspired to recruit a second
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  Speaker 1: candidate named Daniel Jay. Sullivan to intentionally confuse voters and
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  Speaker 1: siphon support away from incumbent Republican Senator Dan S. Sullivan.
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  Speaker 1: In emergency court filings submitted late Friday, federal prosecutors urged
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  Speaker 1: a federal judge to order state election administrators to isolate
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  Speaker 1: and preserve all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan. Justice Department
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  Speaker 1: litigators argued that segregating the specific votes is necessary to
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  Speaker 1: determine whether rankings were the result of voter confusion or
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  Speaker 1: criminal conspiracy under federal law. However, state attorneys for Alaska
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  Speaker 1: urged the court to dismiss the government's request arguing that
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  Speaker 1: commingled paper ballots cannot be segregated without violating state secrecy protections,
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  Speaker 1: and noting that election authorities already distinguish the two candidates
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  Speaker 1: on the ballot, listing the incumbent as Dan S. Sullivan,
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  Speaker 1: registered Republican. Simultaneously, the FBI expanded its field operations, with
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  Speaker 1: federal agents conducting interviews and visiting donors in Petersburg, Alaska,
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  Speaker 1: the hometown of the non-affiliated candidate Daniel Jay. Sullivan Jr.,
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  Speaker 1: President Donald Trump forcefully weighed in on the probe, describing
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  Speaker 1: the alleged ballot stacking scheme as voter fraud and demanding
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  Speaker 1: that Paltola be criminally prosecuted and removed from the ballot.
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  Speaker 1: Alaska Governor Mike Dunleavy separately directed state law enforcement to
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  Speaker 1: launch an independent criminal investigation into the matter. Representative Mary
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  Speaker 1: Peltola firmly denied any personal knowledge or involvement in recruiting
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  Speaker 1: a second Sullivan, characterizing the controversy as a political distraction
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  Speaker 1: engineered to mislead voters in the closing hours of the campaign.
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  Speaker 1: Independent legal scholars noted that while recruiting spoiler candidates is
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  Speaker 1: a long-standing dirty campaign tactic, Federal prosecutors are seeking to
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  Speaker 1: establish whether financial backing or coordinated misrepresentations crossed into actionable
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  Speaker 1: federal conspiracy. As both parties brace for court decisions over
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  Speaker 1: ballot handling, the intensifying criminal probe adds profound uncertainty to
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  Speaker 1: a battleground race that could ultimately decide Senate control on
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  Speaker 1: November 3rd.