Department of Justice opens civil and criminal front over alleged electoral scheme in the Alaska Senate

The United States Department of Justice confirmed, at a press conference in Anchorage, that it is criminally investigating an alleged scheme to deceive voters in the Senate race in Alaska. According to federal prosecutor Michael Haymon, there was a significant increase in agents and resources in the state, and the investigation is running in parallel with a civil action that seeks to preserve the ballots.

Haymon said the investigation has been going on for several months, but that the recent New York Times report has accelerated the work. The newspaper reported that Polla's campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee had orchestrated a conspiracy to recruit and prop up Daniel J. Sullivan as a shell candidate. The prosecutor said the government takes the allegations "extremely seriously" but did not confirm the veracity of the report.

Two simultaneous fronts

The prosecutor explained that two parallel processes are running, each in its own sphere. The civil action, of a public nature, is based on the National Voter Registration Law and was expanded with an allegation based on the Supremacy Clause. According to Haymon, the goal is just to preserve the ballots, so that Alaska can determine whether voters were misled or whether votes for Sullivan could have changed the result. The Department, he said, is not asking the court to declare a winner or change votes.

Within about an hour, the government was expected to submit its response to the dismissal request and file a request for a preliminary injunction, with a request for early production of evidence by Monday. The criminal investigation is subject to confidentiality rules, and information is not shared with the civil side.

The prosecutor also said that he could not detail the ongoing measures or who could be targeted. He also refused to point out which crimes were being investigated, citing only, in general terms, conspiracy and electoral integrity, and said he did not assume that a crime had occurred.

Questions about the timing and legal basis

Journalists asked why the case was made public less than four days before the election. Haymon responded that the government is not escalating the investigation, which was proceeding discreetly, and that allegations that go to the heart of electoral integrity are treated seriously even close to the election.

There was also criticism of the legal basis. A reporter recalled that experts dismissed the basis of the action, as the Voter Registration Law deals with registration and the cited section appears in the preamble, without binding force, and that one of the interveners asks for sanctions against government lawyers for considering the process frivolous. The prosecutor said he will not litigate the case in front of the press and that Judge Gleason is expected to decide the issues in the coming days.

Regarding his own situation, Haymon stated that his previous impeachment was revoked, not annulled, after the White House nominated someone else for a judicial vacancy for which he was being considered. He said he had not spoken to the White House about the allegations.

The special agent in charge of the FBI's Anchorage office, Matthew Schlaggel, said the investigation will "quickly and aggressively" follow the facts, and asked anyone with information to contact the agency.

For investors, the episode adds institutional uncertainty to an electoral dispute with a high political impact, as the Senate is a central player in the processing of fiscal and tax issues. The transcript, however, does not provide any projection of effect on the stock market, interest rates or dollar, and the outcome will depend on court decisions and the investigation, with no conclusions yet.

Automatically translated from Portuguese.