Peltola denies knowledge of 'any other candidate' on Alaska Senate ballot besides herself and incumbent Dan Sullivan
The DOJ is acting to "intensely and swiftly" escalate its probe.
Alaska Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied that she knew about an effort to recruit a candidate to be on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan.
"I just want to clear the air. I knew nothing about any other candidates on the ballot except for me and the incumbent. That is all I have ever known about," Peltola said during a rally in Juneau, Alaska, on Thursday, according to an Associated Press video.
ABC News has asked the Peltola campaign to clarify whether she is denying knowledge of the reported recruitment effort to find a spoiler candidate.
Peltola later added, "I am not interested in tricking voters. I know I can beat Dan Sullivan."
Peltola's comments, just days before the high-stakes midterm elections, come after a New York Times report Wednesday that her campaign and senior aides at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee played a role in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan -- a Republican who almost has the same name as incumbent Sen. Sullivan -- as part of an effort to sow confusion and ultimately benefit Peltola's campaign.
At a separate campaign event on Thursday, Peltola called the New York Times' report "just another distraction."
"It's another diversion. Every day, it's some new, you know, 'look over here' moment,” Peltola said in a social media video verified by ABC News.
DOJ working to 'intensely and swiftly' escalate probe, US attorney says
Meanwhile, the top federal prosecutor in Alaska held a press conference Friday afternoon to announce the Justice Department's efforts to "intensely and swiftly" escalate its probe into the Alaska Senate race following that New York Times report.
In the press conference, Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman provided little in the way of details about what actions the department was specifically taking -- citing sensitivities surrounding ongoing criminal investigations.
"I do want to say that what we've learned recently has been deeply troubling," Heyman said. "We are acting on it intensely and swiftly."
Heyman said the new information reported on by the Times has resulted in a "significant surge" of law enforcement assets to Alaska, and other law enforcement "around the country" are also taking "investigative steps" regarding information from the article. Heyman said the office has already received "a number of new pieces of information" in just the last 24 hours that investigators are following up on.
Asked during the press conference what specific crime was being investigated, Heyman conceded the department hasn't made a determination one way or another.
"We investigate whether a crime has been committed under several theories," he said. "So I'm not going to comment on what those theories are, and I'm also not going to put the cart before the horse. I'm not making any assumptions on whether a crime has been committed or not."
Earlier this week, the Justice Department began issuing a new wave of subpoenas stemming from an ongoing criminal probe of Democrats' alleged efforts to recruit Dan J. Sullivan, multiple sources familiar with the matter told ABC News. The Trump administration filed a separate civil lawsuit last week seeking an injunction against the state certifying the results of its election in the event Sen. Sullivan narrowly loses, which a federal judge is expected to rule on in the coming days.
Peltola’s campaign earlier this week told ABC News that it "has no involvement with either Sullivan campaign." Former Peltola staffer Elisa Rios told the Times about the reported recruitment effort, saying Peltola wasn't directly involved but that she was "definitely aware."
ABC News reached out to Dan J. Sullivan's campaign for comment on the New York Times' report earlier this week, but has not heard back.
Alaska courts evaluated the dispute over Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy and found nothing illegal about his bid to be on the ballot -- even if it was not entirely in "good faith" or an attempt to "confuse and mislead" as the Trump administration and Republicans contend.
Trump: 'You need about 190 IQ to figure out the ballot'
On Friday morning, President Donald Trump, who has claimed Pelota has committed "election fraud," said Alaskans would need to have a "190 IQ" to understand the ballot with two Dan Sullivans, despite the ballot's clear distinctions between the two candidates' names and other distinctive marks like party affiliation and incumbency.
On the general election ballot, Sen. Sullivan is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, a registered Republican, and it is noted that he is the incumbent. The other Sullivan is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. with no party affiliation.
"You need about 190 IQ to figure out the ballot. They put a ballot down where they're talking about incumbent Republican and the other one. Most people don't know in Alaska, in a lot of other states too, what does incumbent mean? They don't know what incumbent means," Trump said when he called into Kansas City's KMCO "Mundo in the Morning."
Peltola won the primary by a larger margin than adding Dan J. Sullivan in could have made up for: 48% to 2%, respectively; Sen. Sullivan earned 43% of the vote in the primary.
GOP Sen. Sullivan on Thursday criticized Democrats' alleged efforts to recruit another Dan Sullivan in the Senate race. Sen. Sullivan, on Fox News, claimed Peltola's campaign ran a "secret operation to put a fake Dan Sullivan on the ballot with the primary purpose, the only purpose, to trick Alaskans."
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