ICE officer charged with hitting fleeing man with car expected to surrender

The Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer accused of intentionally striking a man in Houston earlier this month is expected to surrender on Monday morning, his attorney, David Lindenmuth told ABC News. 

Mario Alberto Morales was indicted by a grand jury in Houston on a charge of second-degree aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, according to the Harris County District Attorney's Office.

Lindenmuth said Morales did not intend to strike Miguel Parra Hernandez when he was pursuing him and another person who were attempting to flee on foot on Oct. 10.

KTRK - PHOTO: Law enforcement officials are at the scene after a man was struck by a vehicle driven by an ICE agent during chase, according to the Harris Courty Sheriff's Office, on Oct. 10, 2026, in Harris County, Texas.

ICE officer who struck man with vehicle during pursuit in Texas indicted: DA

“It was an accident. It was nothing more than accident, but the DA to score political points right before elections decided to bring charges,” Lindenmuth said. 

At a press briefing on Friday, Harris County District Attorney Sean Teare alleged that Morales' body-camera footage shows the officer "aggressively steered his vehicle" into Parra Hernandez.

The district attorney played graphic video from the officer's body-worn camera alongside surveillance footage of the incident during a press briefing.

The body-camera footage appears to show Morales behind the wheel, pursuing Parra Hernandez and another individual who are fleeing on foot. 

ICE officer who allegedly struck man in Texas with vehicle placed on administrative leave, agency says

"Got a runner, got a runner," the officer can be heard saying. "On foot. Both of them."

Seconds later, the body camera footage shows the officer appearing to turn his steering wheel toward the left. Authorities say that’s when the vehicle struck Parra Hernandez and then came to a stop.

Morales is then seen approaching Parra Hernandez, who is lying on the ground crying in agony, and moving his leg.

KTRK - PHOTO: Law enforcement officials are at the scene after a man was struck by a vehicle driven by an ICE agent during chase, according to the Harris Courty Sheriff's Office, on Oct. 10, 2026, in Harris County, Texas.

When asked about the video, Lindenmuth said Morales had two detainees in the back seat and was trying to avoid striking a vehicle and did not intend to hit him. 

“Clearly there is contact but the contact wasn’t intentional. It wasn’t knowingly,” Lindenmuth said. “It was in reaction to him trying not to strike a vehicle.” 

Lindenmuth said Morales served in the army, was a paratrooper, and is a Christian pastor who does missionary work overseas. 

ICE agent strikes man with car during pursuit in Texas, authorities say

He said he believes the charges against his client are politically motivated.

“This is a good man, so why are you attacking his character and his background? You know why? When you don’t have evidence, you have to vilify somebody,” he said. “So he has to make him the boogeyman, a monster, because he knows he cannot prove intent because there was none.” 

Speaking at the press briefing, the DA told reporters: "I've reviewed hundreds of cases, some very similar to this. The evidence that we have in this case is as clear as any that I've ever prosecuted or investigated."

Attorney Kim Bruno, who's representing Parra Hernandez, her client suffered fractures and nerve damage and underwent surgery following the incident.

“All he wants is accountability,” Bruno said. “He wants assurance that this will not happen to anybody else. He is so sympathetic, and all he cares about are the other people. But he is the one in the bed suffering.”

Parra Hernandez is currently detained and remains in federal custody at a rehabilitation facility.

According to Lindenmuth, Morales is a former corrections officer who enlisted in the Army. 

Morales also worked as a detention and processing officer at the Port Isabel Detention Center and worked with DHS as an ICE contractor, Lindenmuth said. 

He joined ICE as a federal immigration officer in August 2025, Lindenmuth said. 

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New satellite images of damage on U.S. bases offer fresh insight into Iran's strategy

WASHINGTON (AP) — Iran's strikes on more than two dozen U.S. bases in the Middle East focused on early-warning systems before hitting aircraft and buildings, causing billions of dollars in equipment damage, according to an Associated Press analysis.

The AP independently verified damage to American targets using satellite imagery from multiple providers and spoke to four regional officials who were briefed or have firsthand knowledge of what was hit. The AP found that, through August, more than 115 drone or missile strikes claimed by Iran or Iranian-backed militias damaged or destroyed structures on 26 military bases and other sites with U.S. equipment.

The AP found that Iran initially focused its attacks on aircraft hangars and systems that detect incoming strikes, clearing the way for further strikes on warehouses, troop housing and more.

The damage has significantly reshaped the American foothold in the Middle East, with two regional officials saying the U.S. has moved many of its assets out of the Persian Gulf. That includes aircraft, air defense systems, communications systems and other equipment crucial to base operations, one of those officials said.

The impact of the damage raises questions about American defenses in the region as President Donald Trump considers new strikes after Tuesday's midterm elections and Tehran has vowed major retaliation. A return to hostilities threatens additional costly damage to bases, which would heighten uncertainty about whether the United States will choose to rebuild its bases and equipment in the region when the war ends.

The AP's analysis offers new insight into Iran's strategy for its retaliation and what precisely has been damaged on U.S. bases during the eight-month war, going beyond the details that have been released in independent reviews, including from the Pentagon's inspector general. It found that from April 1 to June 30, Iranian strikes had damaged and destroyed hundreds of buildings and other structures on U.S. bases.

Such assessments provide the only overall snapshot because the Trump administration and the U.S. military have provided few details about the toll of the conflict on people and equipment, even putting measures in place to impede outside review, such as delays in the release of satellite images.

U.S. Central Command, which oversees operations in the Middle East, has refused to comment on or specify damage to bases or equipment, usually citing the need for operational security. The command did not comment for this story.

Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell asserted that U.S. “forces and bases are well protected and America’s military is stronger than ever."

"Our service members in CENTCOM have everything they need to continue their historic success ensuring Iran never obtains a nuclear weapon,” Parnell said in a statement to the AP.

Here's what Iran targeted at US bases in the Middle East

Most of the Iranian attacks have been in Kuwait, while U.S. sites in Bahrain, Iraq, Jordan, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates also have been targeted, the analysis of satellite imagery shows. The deadliest known strike on U.S. troops in the Iran war was in Kuwait, where six soldiers were killed in a drone attack at Port Shuaiba on March 1.

Ali Al Salem Air Base in Kuwait was struck at least 30 times, damaging or destroying at least 15 aircraft hangars, numerous warehouses and 10 buildings near a residential area.

Camp Buehring, also in Kuwait, faced even heavier losses. While Iranian attacks made most of its hangars inoperable, gathering places for troops sustained much more damage because the base had limited aircraft. Its gym was destroyed in March and a store for troops to buy products on the base was hit in late July.

A strike also has severely damaged the garage and dining room there, according to the two regional officials. They and two others, who are regional military officials, spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive details about the damage to bases.

While strikes were much heavier against Iran, American matériel losses were inevitable, said Raphael Cohen, director of the National Security Program at the RAND School of Public Policy. The way wars are fought today makes all militaries “susceptible to large-scale, cheap drone attacks,” he said.

“This should be a wake-up call for the United States,” Cohen said.

Iran focused on targeting US systems meant to detect incoming strikes

Iran launched its response to the war with accurate attacks on systems meant to detect and thwart incoming strikes, then broadened its targets to buildings and equipment that made U.S. bases useful and habitable.

Iran destroyed enclosures protecting U.S. radar systems at Camp Arifjan in Kuwait and Naval Support Activity Bahrain within the first two days of the war's start in late February. Additionally, Iran hit portable radars at Prince Sultan Air Base in Saudi Arabia and Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan.

Iran prioritized striking at the backbone of the U.S. air defense system, targeting key early-warning radars that are difficult and expensive to repair or replace, said N.R. Jenzen-Jones, director of the technical intelligence consulting firm Armament Research Services.

A radar was hit in Jordan and said to be destroyed. It was one of only 13 possessed by the Army globally, manufacturer Raytheon said. Budget documents show each costs about half a billion dollars.

Another radar in Qatar was damaged significantly, but it is unclear if it was destroyed. Purchased by the Gulf country in a 2013 deal valued at $1.1 billion, it appears to have been the only one in the region.

Hitting such sites was likely “intended to disrupt and degrade the U.S. and allies’ ability to respond to further strikes,” Jenzen-Jones said.

After hitting the radars, Iran launched more than 50 successful strikes on 18 locations with U.S. military equipment in the first month of the war, prioritizing areas with aircraft.

Iran damaged refueling aircraft, communication systems, fuel bunkers and troop accommodations at various bases, the two regional officials said. An Iranian strike on Prince Sultan Air Base in March damaged the back half of a Boeing E-3 Sentry surveillance aircraft and another hit a CIA unit at the U.S. Embassy in Riyadh.

A separate regional military official, who recently visited the Saudi air base, described a severely damaged facility with scattered debris and broken construction materials. He said he saw damaged equipment, including bombed-out barracks and mess halls.

The official said the attack that hit the surveillance plane also damaged several other aircraft, including two aerial refueling tankers. A Congressional Research Service report updated in October said 15 U.S. aircraft had been damaged on regional bases.

Al Dhafra Air Base, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Abu Dhabi in the UAE, was hit frequently early in the war, according to a second regional military official with direct knowledge of the damage. The official noted damage to infrastructure like aircraft hangars and other installations as well as to equipment such as an early-warning radar system and surveillance drones.

Satellite imagery has been delayed

Major providers with U.S. contracts have blocked or delayed public release of satellite imagery at the request of American officials, who sometimes cited it being a national security risk. That has left limited options to visually confirm strike damage until imagery could be obtained from OneAtlas, a satellite provider owned by Airbus.

In the example of Camp Buehring in Kuwait, one of the hardest-hit bases, high-quality imagery from reliable providers was not available until late August. From the halt of imagery in early March to its reemergence in August, more than 30 structures on the base were damaged or destroyed. The AP confirmed that Iran struck Camp Buehring numerous times in March, April, May and July.

Months later, no endgame for the war has been articulated, and more damage could be ahead if hostilities resume, which the U.S. and Iran both say is possible.

The conflict could foreshadow a new reality for U.S. forces.

“This is the operating environment that we’re going to face in the future," said Cohen, the RAND analyst. "The idea that we can rely on fixed infrastructure in the way that we have during the global war on terrorism is over.”

___

Magdy reported from Cairo.

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1 person killed and 8 others injured in Alabama shooting after football game

At least one person was killed and at least eight others were injured in a shooting after a football game at Birmingham, Alabama, law enforcement said.

At least one person was detained in connection with the shooting, the Birmingham Police Department said.

"Shortly after 7:50 p.m., multiple shots rang out in the 400 block of Grayman Avenue West, officers responded and located multiple gunshot victims," Officer Darrell Freeman said during a press conference.

Freeman said nine people had been hit by gunfire, including "at least one being confirmed deceased." Another of the injured was in critical condition, he added, and seven others were in stable condition.

"Multiple firearms were recovered from the scene by officers and turned into our property room," Freeman said. "One person has been detained and transported to the Birmingham Police Headquarters for questioning. This is an active scene with developing information."

The shooting was near Legion Field, which hosted the Magic City Classic football game earlier on Saturday.

"This did occur after the game," Chief Michael Pickett said. "For the most part, it was off of the property."

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Alaska Republicans push back on Trump's bid to block Senate election results

Alaska officials criticized the legal basis on which the Trump administration has argued it has standing to intervene in the election. (Becky Bohrer / AP)

The Republican-led state government in Alaska implored a federal judge on Saturday to permanently dismiss the Trump administration’s lawsuit that seeks to block the certification of the Alaska Senate race if GOP Sen. Dan S. Sullivan loses.

“The United States’ opposition provides no reason for this Court to entertain this meritless lawsuit any longer,” the filing said, adding that “the relief demanded is inappropriate and not even possible given Alaskan voters’ vital right to ballot secrecy.”

The filing from Alaska officials comes just three days before Election Day and as the judge is expected to rule soon on whether to dismiss the lawsuit or continue with it.

The Trump administration has claimed that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign was involved in recruiting a retired teacher with the same name as Sullivan to run in the race, creating confusion that it says will unfairly take away votes intended for the incumbent. Peltola has denied the allegations.

The Trump administration filed a lawsuit Oct. 22 against local election officials, arguing that the results of the competitive Senate race should not be certified unless Sen. Dan S. Sullivan is declared the winner.

Alaska officials on Saturday criticized the legal basis on which the Trump administration has argued it has standing to intervene in the election, as election certification is left up to the states.

The filing noted that the Alaska Supreme Court approved the second Sullivan’s name to be on the ballot months ago and added that “state officials carefully designed the ballot to minimize voter confusion.”

Alaska officials also took aim at the Justice Department’s proposal of “segregating” ballots that rank Dan J. Sullivan, writing, “this unexplained idea makes no sense.”

“No matter how the ballots are physically stored, it will be easy to tell which ballots rank Daniel J.,” the filing said. “If the United States means something different — as it seems to — its ballot segregation proposal is both disturbing and impossible.”

The Alaska attorney general’s office asked the judge to “immediately dismiss this lawsuit with prejudice and allow state officials to conduct the general election — including ballot counting and certification — free from unwarranted federal interference.”

The Trump administration amended its complaint this week to cite new reporting from The New York Times, which alleged that Peltola’s campaign was involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan and that Peltola herself was aware of the situation. The Times story citied a former campaign manager who later attempted to retract her statements.

At a rally Friday night, Peltola told a crowd of her supporters that she was “so deeply offended by these accusations about having any involvement with anyone else’s candidacy.”

“I want fewer candidates in the primary. I’m not out soliciting more competition,” Peltola said, adding she did “not need any help” defeating Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.

Sen. Dan S. Sullivan took aim at Peltola in a Fox News interview on Saturday, saying that “there’s no way Peltola doesn’t know about” the scheme to recruit Dan J. Sullivan.

“It’s deception. But at its worst, it’s disdain for us Alaskans,” he said. “Think about what they did. They’re trying to make sure that Alaskans throw away their vote.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

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El-Sayed campaign wants Stevens to stay away after day of back-and-forth barbs

TRAVERSE CITY, MICHIGAN — Michigan's Democratic coalition is fragmenting in real time days before a critical Senate election.

After it seemed like former primary rivals Abdul El-Sayed and Rep. Haley Stevens might finally appear together, they’re back to sniping at each other. And it could hardly come at a worse moment as Democrats look to unite behind El-Sayed and hold on to a pivotal Senate seat.

El-Sayed’s campaign is asking Stevens to stay away from all future campaign events in the closing days of the race, two people familiar with the decision, who were granted anonymity to discuss sensitive campaign dynamics, told POLITICO.

She should stay away “as not to distract from the central issues of the campaign,” one of the people said.

The brushoff capped a day of the two lobbing increasingly pointed statements back and forth at each other, frustrating Democrats who say the infighting risks imperiling a state the party can hardly afford to lose as they try to flip control of the Senate.

“I have no idea what the hell Haley Stevens is doing. This is a moment where we have to recognize the stakes,” Michigan state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, who was squeezed out of the Democratic primary by the two other candidates, told CNN earlier on Friday, before El-Sayed issued his response. “People are not talking about ads. They are not talking about Haley Stevens. They are talking about the price of gas and groceries.”

Stevens did not immediately respond to a question on if she will now stay off the trail, and did not respond to an earlier question about whether her appearance was contingent on him apologizing. El-Sayed’s campaign declined to comment.

El-Sayed narrowly defeated Stevens in a bitter and hard-fought primary in August that exposed division over support for Israel. The seat now held by the retiring Democratic Sen. Gary Peters is crucial to Democratic hopes to take control of the Senate.

Stevens and El Sayed have not campaigned together since a post-primary unity breakfast, but appeared on the verge of doing so earlier on Friday.

Stevens initially said she would appear alongside El-Sayed and South Carolina Rep. Jim Clyburn at a church in Detroit on Sunday.

But she said she expected the Democratic nominee to apologize for some of his past comments and condemn an ad run by an outside group supporting him that she described as antisemitic. The ad featured a conversation in a grocery store where a woman told a man they couldn't buy eggs because they had to set aside money for “killing Palestinians.” El-Sayed’s campaign had previously noted he was not affiliated with the ad.

In response, El-Sayed did not touch on the ad or his past comments on Israel, instead saying that his campaign “has always been focused on addressing the most critical challenges Michiganders are facing” and that that focus “is why our people-powered campaign defeated a historic $70 [million] in outside spending from big corporations and AIPAC on behalf of Congresswoman Stevens.”

“So while Congresswoman Stevens seems intent on relitigating a primary that ended three months ago, let’s all focus on the task at hand: that’s beating Mike Rogers,” El-Sayed said.

Privately, Democrats are frustrated — some with Stevens.

“Every Democrat was singing the same tune but now, because one person is tone deaf, the whole choir is thrown off,” said a Michigan Democratic operative who is not directly working for El-Sayed’s campaign.

Some Democrats tried to downplay the fight heading into the final days of the race.

“There’s been a lot of efforts to coalesce Democrats, both from Abdul and from the congresswoman. I think everybody's on the same page of Democrats just beating Mike Rogers," said Joe Tate, a state representative from Detroit who supported Stevens in the primary and is now backing El-Sayed. But he acknowledged that "when you have people that have competed through a primary, I know it can always have those lingering effects."

Former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg urged Democrats to come together to support El-Sayed.

“I've never met somebody who I agree with on 100 percent of everything,” Buttigieg told reporters while campaigning in the state for House candidate Callie Barr on Friday. “But when our health care is at stake, when a chance to have a more affordable everyday life is at stake, the choice is clear: Mike Rogers has disqualified himself.”

Republicans have sought to play up the Democratic divisions. Rogers, in a Friday evening post on X, called Stevens a “courageous leader” and said she was “absolutely right” to call on El-Sayed to apologize.

“I agree with her and my campaign is about being there, showing up and defending these communities and all Michiganders,” Rogers said.

President Donald Trump, at a Friday night rally in Daytona, Florida, had a characteristically blunt message: "If you're Black, or if you're Jewish, and you vote for Abdul, you're not smart,” he said.

Stevens’ comments so close to the pivotal election left some Democrats wondering what her goal was.

“If you are someone with a large platform — whether you are, say, an outgoing member of Congress or an out-of-state streamer — who genuinely wants Abdul El-Sayed to become the next U.S. Senator from the state of Michigan and for Democrats to take back the Senate and put a meaningful check on Donald Trump, before you speak publicly I would implore you to ask yourself ‘is what I’m doing actually helping, or am I just seeking attention?’,” Democratic operative Adam Carlson, who has polled for a pro El-Sayed super PAC, wrote on X.

Sophia Cai contributed to this report.

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A Senate seat Republicans have held for 60 years is suddenly up for grabs

When South Carolina’s longtime Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham died suddenly in July, his sister Darline stepped in to fill his seat in the Senate for the final six months of his term. 

“Lindsey has always been there for me, and now I will be there for him,” Darline Graham said in her first remarks after being appointed to her brother’s old seat.

The choice to put Darline Graham in the seat was made by South Carolina Gov. Henry McMaster. But now that Darline Graham is seeking election to a full six-year term, her political future is in the hands of South Carolina’s voters.

The Palmetto State hasn’t elected a Democrat to the Senate since 1998. The specific Senate seat Graham now occupies has been held by a Republican for more than 60 years. But polls suggest that, in a midterm cycle in which the GOP is playing defense in red states across the country, Graham’s Democratic opponent, Annie Andrews, may have a genuine chance of pulling off an upset on Nov. 3.

Here’s what to know about Darline Graham as she fights to defend what could be a critical seat in the nationwide battle over control of the Senate. 

Who is Darline Graham?

South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham hugs his sister, Darline Graham, after announcing his bid for the presidency, on June 1, 2015, in Central, S.C.

Rainier Ehrhardt/AP

Graham was born in the city of Central, S.C., where her parents operated a combination bar, liquor store and pool hall called the Sanitary Cafe. The family lived in rooms behind the business. 

Her mother died in 1976 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin lymphoma. She was buried the day before Darline Graham's 12th birthday, the Post and Courier reported.

Fifteen months later, her father died of a massive heart attack. Lindsey Graham was 22 and a senior at the University of South Carolina. Darline Graham, then 13, discovered their father's body after trying to wake him for school.

"I can remember the day my father passed away, standing in the living room of that house, absolutely scared to death," Darline Graham told NPR in 2015. "Lindsey wrapped his arms around me and promised me he would always be there for me and always take care of me."

Lindsey Graham kept the promise, returning home from Columbia nearly every weekend to look after his sister, who lived with relatives in nearby Seneca, S.C., where he kept tabs on her curfew and her friends.

"I never let her date. I smelled her clothes if she smoked. I listened in on her phone calls. I was probably pressing too hard, just 'cause I felt such responsibility for her," Lindsey Graham once told the Washington Post. "I thought that was my job and I felt very happy to have done it. She is the light of my life."

When Lindsey Graham joined the Air Force as a military lawyer, he became his sister's legal guardian and later adopted her so she would be eligible for his military benefits if anything happened to him.

"He's kind of like a brother, a father and a mother rolled into one," she said in a 2015 interview with the New York Times. 

Darline Graham went on to become a mother of two, and her career has focused on helping people with disabilities. According to her LinkedIn profile, she served for over a decade as communications director for the South Carolina Vocational Rehabilitation Department, and has been commissioner of the South Carolina Commission for the Blind — which assists blind or visually impaired South Carolinians — since 2019.

"Of all the things that have happened in my life, her turning out so well is the highlight of it by far," Lindsey Graham told C-SPAN in 2015.

No stranger to politics

Presidential candidate and South Carolina Sen. Lindsey Graham photobombs a local weatherman's live television shot beside his sister, Darline Graham, as he walks down the midway at the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines, Iowa, in 2015.

Al Drago/CQ Roll Call via Getty Images

Although Darline Graham had never held public office, she was relatively active in supporting her brother's political ambitions, often appearing in his campaign ads.

"I have always looked up to Lindsey," she said in a campaign ad for his 2014 reelection. "He's just always been there for me as long as I can remember. If I fell down and scraped my knee, Lindsey was the one I ran to."

And she was at his side when he launched his short-lived 2016 presidential campaign.

Lindsey Graham, who never married, told ABC News that if he were to win the White House, he would have a "rotating first lady," suggesting his sister and friends "could play that role if necessary."

Supporting a sibling who’s a senator is a very different task from being one yourself, as Darline Graham learned when she was abruptly thrust into the political spotlight following her brother’s death. 

She’s faced questions about her lack of experience throughout her Senate campaign. That line of criticism became especially pointed following a primary debate in August, when she struggled to answer a question about the U.S. relationship with Taiwan, eventually telling the moderator, “I’m not that informed on national security.” In that same debate, she also mistakenly stated that South Carolina is home to 50 million people. The state’s true population is 5.6 million. 

Despite those hiccups, and with a boost from President Trump’s endorsement, Graham won the Republican primary after defeating U.S. Rep. Ralph Norman in a runoff. 

What does she stand for?

Like her brother, Graham is a conservative. But she’s farther to the right than he was on certain issues. 

One of the biggest differences is on immigration. Lindsey Graham cosponsored a bill that would have given a path to citizenship to “Dreamers,” undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children. He said he opposed Trump’s mass deportation agenda during the 2016 presidential election. 

“My stance is a little bit stronger,” Darline Graham said in August. “I think it’s real simple. If you’re here illegally, you need to go back immediately.”

Both siblings supported Trump’s proposed slate of election reforms, the SAVE America Act, but Lindsey opposed eliminating the filibuster to get it passed in the Senate. Darline has said she supports getting rid of it.

On most other issues, Darline Graham’s positions align with her brother’s, which puts her squarely in the conservative wing of the Republican Party. She opposes abortion, is a strong supporter of gun rights, wants to make tax cuts in Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill permanent and is against allowing transgender athletes to compete in girls’ and women’s sports. 

Graham has pledged to “keep fighting every single day for President Trump's agenda.” Unlike some other Republicans in close Senate races, who have called for the president to end the war in Iran, she has stood by the president’s approach. She has also backed Trump’s tariffs on other countries. 

“I will have President Trump’s back 100%,” she told the crowd at a rally in August.

What are her chances?

Polls showed Graham with a lead of about 7 percentage points shortly after she won the Republican primary. But that advantage shrank in the following weeks, and the polls have shown her Democratic opponent, Andrews, only slightly behind as Election Day has grown closer. A New York Times/Siena poll released Wednesday even showed the race effectively tied. 

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Justice Department seeks to isolate Alaska ballots amid Senate race probe

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) — The U.S. Department of Justice pushed Friday for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots to investigate potential voter confusion, while federal officials confirmed the existence of a criminal probe over a Senate candidate who shares a name with the Republican incumbent.

The dueling developments came days before Tuesday's ranked choice general election, in a race headlined by two-term Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan and Democratic former U.S. Rep. Mary Peltola. The race is among a handful nationwide expected to determine control of the Senate.

Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael Heyman told reporters in Anchorage that the investigation has been ongoing for several months, but recent revelations from The New York Times that Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting retired teacher Dan J. Sullivan have resulted in a “significant surge of law enforcement assets to Alaska.”

Separately, the Justice Department — as part of a lawsuit it filed last week — asked a judge to order that state elections officials isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to investigate potential voter “confusion” with the senator. The owner of a boat dealership in the candidate's hometown of Petersburg who had donated to his campaign told The Associated Press that an FBI agent visited the business and wanted to know whether he had been misled by Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy. He said he had not and that “Everybody knows who the incumbent is.”

Alaska Assistant U.S. Attorney E. Bryan Wilson, in a filing, said the government “seeks to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary.”

The Department of Justice also filed with the court a list of proposed questions it seeks to compel the Peltola campaign and the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee to answer as part of the civil case seeking to block certification of the Senate race if the incumbent loses. President Donald Trump has said he told the department to file the case.

State elections officials made efforts to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot

Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about the effort to put Dan J. Sullivan on the ballot: “I am not interested in tricking voters,” she said.

Democrats, including the DSCC, have repeatedly denied that they were involved in any campaign trick. Dan J. Sullivan has long denied he was running at Democrats’ behest.

The request to segregate the ballots in Alaska comes after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected the Justice Department’s request for California to set aside disputed ballots received in the midterm election sent to some 20,000 people the administration contends may not be U.S. citizens. California officials argued the list is highly unreliable and most likely includes many people who are U.S. citizens.

Justice Department attorneys in the Alaska case said there is a “substantial risk” that Dan J. Sullivan's candidacy “will mislead voters and ultimately result in an electoral process that lacks integrity.”

“To guard against this danger, the United States seeks an order directing Defendants to preserve and segregate all ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan for the purposes of investigating whether such ranking was the product of voter confusion, should such an investigation become necessary,” the filing states. It requests a decision by Monday.

Attorneys for the state in response questioned how segregation would be possible, writing that voters' ballots are commingled in the ballot box on Election Day and that election workers couldn't segregate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan without violating ballot secrecy protections. Ballots segregated or not wouldn't reveal any voter's reason for voting for Dan J. Sullivan, they said.

They have asked a judge to dismiss the case and said Alaska elections officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot. The senator is listed as Dan S. Sullivan, Republican and incumbent, while the challenger is listed as Daniel J. Sullivan Jr., with no party affiliation. That's also how they appeared on the August open primary ballot.

Attorneys for the state also have argued that Alaska’s ranked voting system further addresses concerns about potential confusion by allowing voters to rank both Sullivans.

Timing of Justice Department announcements unusual

Heyman on Friday would not say what potential crimes authorities are looking into or the targets of the probe, but asked members of the public to come forward with tips that could help investigators.

It’s highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even confirm its existence. The timing of the press conference is particularly notable given the Justice Department has had a longstanding practice of avoiding taking public steps in the weeks leading up to an election that could be perceived as attempting to influence a political outcome.

Trump during a rally late Friday in Florida said Peltola and Dan J. Sullivan should be prosecuted. He noted U.S. Attorney General Todd Blanche was in attendance and said, “He’s going to make his own decision.”

Trump, then addressing Blanche directly, said of decisions regarding the case, “Todd, please make your own,” and watched Blanche’s response.

Trump added: “OK, he said ‘yes.’”

Peltola, at a campaign rally in Anchorage late Friday, said she is “so deeply offended by these accusations about having any involvement with anyone else’s candidacy.” She said she doesn't need any help in winning the race outside of the support of voters.

She was asked before the rally if it was possible that someone on her campaign was involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan: “I have no idea,” she told KTUU. “I honestly have no idea.”

The Times story revealing the potential recruitment of Dan J. Sullivan was based partly on interviews with a former campaign manager, Elisa Rios, who was fired before the August primary. Asked about Rios by the station, Peltola said certain people are “gone for a good reason. If I could fire them again, I’d be happy to fire them again.”

Federal prosecutors this week issued dozens of grand jury subpoenas and requests to preserve records, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy said, following The New York Times' reporting, that he'd ordered an investigation into whether any violations took place.

Meanwhile, the Alaska Democratic Party has sued state elections officials, alleging absentee in-person voting sites did not open as advertised in some rural communities. The director of the Division of Elections in a letter dated Monday said the agency signs agreements with local or tribal offices to operate the sites and that most of the 18 highlighted had opened. A message seeking comment from the state Department of Law was not immediately returned.

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Durkin Richer reported from Washington. Bohrer reported from Juneau, Alaska. AP reporter Will Weissert contributed from Washington.

This article originally appeared on Associated Press at https://ift.tt/5L3ZD2B

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