President Trump on Wednesday called for the prosecution of Alaska Senate candidate Mary Peltola. He claimed her campaign recruited spoiler candidates to siphon votes from Republicans. "They said they didn't do it, and they did do it, and they got caught," Mr. Trump said, calling the effort voter fraud.
The president lashed out at the former representative after The New York Times reported that her campaign and national Democrats helped recruit spoiler candidates to the race. He offered no explanation of what crime was committed.
President Trump on Wednesday called for the prosecution of Mary Peltola, the Democratic Senate candidate in Alaska, after The New York Times reported that her campaign had helped recruit spoiler candidates intended to siphon votes from the Republican incumbent.
Speaking with reporters on his way to a rally in Ohio, Mr. Trump called for Ms. Peltola to be removed from the ballot and prosecuted without explaining what crime, if any, was committed.
"They said they didn't do it, and they did do it, and they got caught," Mr. Trump said, describing the Democratic effort as "voter fraud at the highest level."
The secret plan, which involved senior advisers to both the Peltola campaign and the top campaign committee supporting Senate Democrats, included the recruitment of Daniel J. Sullivan, a retiree from a small Alaskan fishing village who bears the same first and last name as one of the state's Republican senators, Dan. S Sullivan.
Both Sullivans will appear on the ballot on Tuesday alongside Ms. Peltola and a fourth candidate, Gerald Heikes. Mr. Trump called for Daniel J. Sullivan's removal from the ballot.
Mr. Trump wasn't the only Republican to object to the plan. But proving that a crime was committed is likely to be difficult. State leaders had tried earlier this year to remove Daniel J. Sullivan from the ballot, but the Alaska Supreme Court ruled that nothing in state law nor in the U.S. Constitution allowed it to rule on the motives of a candidate.