Alaskan donors of Dan J. Sullivan visited by FBI amid probe

Federal authorities in the US began visiting donors of Dan J. Sullivan about potential deception in the Alaska Senate race after officials confirmed the existence of a criminal investigation over the candidate.

Earlier on Friday, the US Justice Department pushed for a court order to isolate certain Alaska ballots ranking Daniel J. Sullivan Jr. to test the level of confusion among voters.

Democrat Mary Peltola's election campaign was allegedly recruiting him to run against Republican Sen. Dan Sullivan, who shares the same name.

An FBI agent based in Anchorage visited a boat dealership in Petersburg and left a business card for Charles Flint, Dan J. Sullivan's friend and donor.

Flint elaborated on his intention to rank Peltola first on his ballot, followed by Dan J. Sullivan, saying he had known the man for years and contributed 500 US dollars over the summer to what he called a "long-shot" senatorial campaign.

He noted he knew Sullivan would have expenses and respected him. "If he's being pursued by the FBI now, that's not something I'd imagine he imagined would happen, so."

(Reporter: And you got a; someone left an FBI business card on your business's desk. I mean, how does that make you feel?)

Flint said, "A little, I'm, you know. It doesn't... I don't know that it scares me or anything like that. It's just like, it's a lot to do for, I can't imagine they're gonna be able to make anything out of this."

Flint's son was reportedly asked by the agent whether his father felt he had been "misled" about which candidate he was backing. Flint said he doesn't think there's any confusion, claiming "Everybody knows who the incumbent is."

Meanwhile, two different FBI agents were in Sitka for a brief interview at the doorstep of another donor who later told reporters the agents were "polite" and stressed the five-minute conversation was entirely voluntary.

Trump, from a Halloween party at Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, lashed out at Dan J. Sullivan's move to change his middle initial and suggested he left his hometown to go into hiding out of guilt.

"Oh, well, he you know, it's a fraud. And Daniel J. Sullivan tried to change his middle initial to Daniel S. Sullivan, as you know. And it's a fraud. It's voter fraud at the highest level. And he left the world and nobody can find him now. So he knows he's guilty."

The Republican president further declared that top Democratic leaders outside Alaska could have been involved in the case and that they should be prosecuted.