Alaska Senate ballot controversy sparks federal probe

President Trump has canceled some final campaign stops over the weekend as a number of midterm races around the country tighten up. It comes as the Justice Department and the state of Alaska launch investigations into the Senate race there. Doug Zader has more from Washington this morning. Good morning, Doug. Good morning. The president is now canceling some remaining in-person appearances in favor of tele-rallies, and he's calling for the Democratic Senate candidate in in Alaska to drop out. It was a spooky early Halloween at the White House on a day when the president was handing out treats and denouncing tricks. That's a fraud, and it shouldn't be allowed to happen. That after Alaska's unusual Senate ballot featuring two Dan Sullivans drew new scrutiny from federal and state investigators. The New York Times reported that operatives associated with Democratic candidate Mary Peltola plucked an obscure Alaskan from a small town who shared the same name as the Republican incumbent and engineered his run to confuse voters. I am not interested in tricking voters. Peltola has denied knowledge of the effort in the surprisingly close Senate race. I knew nothing about any other candidates. on the ballot, except for me and the incumbent. Supporting a spoiler candidate like the other Dan Sullivan isn't in itself a crime, but this may go beyond that. But there's also other types of crimes that could be involved here, lying to federal officials, filing false statements. All of those can be criminal acts. A surprise in an election cycle that already has a number of Republicans around the country on edge, including the president. Who was rallying for South Carolina Senate candidate Darlene Graham yesterday in what is supposed to be a safe Republican state. And we're now showing that the Senate race there in Alaska, just like the one in Alaska, is now a toss-up. Desiree. Yeah, it's just interesting everything that's happening here as we get down to the wire. As far as it relates to what's unfolding in Alaska, obviously this big article published in the New York Times, what specific evidence are they citing to kind of support this claim against Peltola and her staff? Well, the whole article is kind of centered around a former staffer who kind of spilled the beans on this and later tried to recant that, but that was kind of the seed crystal behind all of this. And if she does win her race, could potentially face, you know, who knows if all these claims prove to be true and we'll see what happens. Doug, we appreciate you. Thank you. Thank you.