The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a Senate candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan Sullivan. The department also confirmed in court documents that it is seeking to isolate ballots ranking Dan J. Sullivan to probe “confusion.”
Revelations came earlier this week from The New York Times that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan. It’s highly unusual for Justice Department officials to publicly discuss a criminal investigation or even confirm its existence. Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put the candidate on the Alaska ballot.
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President Donald Trump has rescheduled campaign rallies in a pair of critical Midwestern states that he had previously canceled, underscoring his party’s push to drive turnout ahead of Election Day. The Republican president will now visit Iowa and Kansas for back-to-back campaign rallies on Sunday.
Early voting continues to significantly outpace the last midterm election, with millions more Americans voting early and sharp increases in states hosting competitive Senate races, according to an Associated Press analysis of voting data from five days before Election Day.
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The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has for the first time issued registrations to medical marijuana dispensaries, a bureaucratic maneuver under Trump’s historic rescheduling of the drug that could pave the way for the businesses to receive tax benefits long denied the industry.
The agency issued the registrations Friday to more than 900 state-licensed dispensaries in Alabama, Florida, Mississippi, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia and West Virginia, the Justice Department said in a news release.
Attorney General Todd Blanche said in the statement that the regulated distribution of cannabis for medical use from those shops “will help ensure broader access to chronic pain treatment and the safety of the American people.”
In April, Blanche signed an order shifting the classification of state-licensed medical marijuana from Schedule I — reserved for drugs without medical use and with high potential for abuse, like heroin — to the less strictly regulated Schedule III.
A federal judge says she will open a “formal inquiry” to investigate if attorneys for the Trump administration violated ethical boundaries during a legal dispute about a golf-course project.
U.S. District Judge Ana Reyes’ declaration that the court would appoint a “special master” to investigate whether agency officials and Justice Department attorneys had made misrepresentations in the court is a far cry from her relationship with the government until this month.
She had rejected numerous motions from the plaintiffs to step in earlier, saying she trusted the government attorneys.
The cases involved are an impending shutdown and reconfiguration of a historic public golf course and the construction of a monumental arch that, at 250 feet (75 meters), would be 100 feet taller than the Statue of Liberty is from its base to the top of the torch.
The two projects are barely 3 miles (5 kilometers) apart.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bryan Wilson in Alaska, in a filing Friday, 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.”
Justice Department attorneys said there is a “substantial risk” that the candidacy of Dan J. Sullivan “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.
Attorneys for the state have argued that Alaska elections officials already took steps to distinguish the two Sullivans on the ballot and argued the state’s ranked voting system further addresses concerns about potential confusion.
Top diplomats from the Group of 20 largest world economies appeared far apart on critical global security issues as they began meeting Friday in Atlanta.
Diplomats who attended the opening session described it as cordial but said Russia’s position on Ukraine is unyielding — as is its opposition to Poland’s membership in the G20.
Those disagreements also include the Trump administration’s not inviting G20 member South Africa over the objections of others. They will likely prevent the foreign ministers from producing a joint communiqué when the meetings wrap up Saturday, participants said.
Several participants, who spoke on condition of anonymity because they weren’t authorized to discuss the closed-door talks, said all had agreed to try to overcome their differences despite the long odds and to work to make next month’s G20 leaders summit hosted by Trump in Florida a success.
— Matthew Lee
The Justice Department sent letters to state election officials on Friday reminding them of federal requirements to retain election records for 22 months and warning they could face prison time or fines if they don’t comply, according to a copy of one of the letters reviewed by the AP.
The department confirmed it was sending such letters to all 50 states.
“In order to bring unlawful voting and registration cases, the Department relies on state voting records,” spokesperson Kiersten Pels wrote in an email. “We are simply reminding them of their obligation under federal law to preserve these documents.”
David Becker, executive director of the Center for Election Innovation and Research, said the letters echoed similar ones sent to states in July and were “clearly intended to just intimidate and threaten.”
“The states know well what their obligations are,” he said on Friday.
— Ali Swenson and Marc Levy
A federal appeals is keeping investigations that target U.S. citizens while probing possible illegal voting by noncitzens on hold in nine states until after Election Day.
A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday agreed with a district judge who ordered the investigations be paused.
The judges, all nominated by Democratic presidents, found the aggressive and public investigations led some citizens to decide not to participate in election-related activities out of fear of being wrongly targeted.
The judges said in a written opinion that the investigations, which are looking into alleged illegal voting in past elections, can resume after the midterms wrap up Tuesday.
The lawsuit seeking to halt the investigations was filed by two unions, a voting rights group and two local governments.
The ruling applies only to investigations in California, Connecticut, Georgia, Missouri, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Washington and Wisconsin.
U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn of South Carolina predicted that Democrats will win in unexpected places Tuesday, partly because of pushback to GOP-led redistricting efforts.
The South Carolina Democrat made a stop in Montgomery, Alabama, to campaign for U.S. Rep. Shomari Figures, who had his district redrawn to favor the GOP.
Earlier in the week, Clyburn appeared with Tennessee congressional hopefuls Chaz Molder and state Rep. Justin J. Pearson.
He said the GOP-led redistricting push has energized Black voters.
“All of the sudden people have been awakened, and this district is a toss-up,” Clyburn said of the Alabama race.
Trump carried the area within Figures new district by 14 percentage points in 2024.
Clyburn said Republicans thought that “would mean sure defeat for Shomari, but it turned out not to be the case.”
The federal government was ordered Friday to pull three Trump administration advertisements — including one that touts the president’s claim that every American will get $5,000 if Republicans prevail in next week’s midterm elections.
The ads, which are entitled ”$5,000 to Americans,” “Every Democrat Voted Against No Tax on Tips,” and “Cost of Socialism,” have to be taken off government websites and social media following the ruling from U.S. District Judge Jennifer L. Rochon.
The White House says the ads are public service announcements. But a coalition of plaintiffs, which includes the nonpartisan watchdog Common Cause, have disputed that idea because they argue the ads don’t help the public benefit from specific government programs.
Hubbard said he’d heard many times that he’d be released from a Russian prison but never trusted he was told.
He said he’d adopted a posture of “seeing is believing” and “actions speak louder than words.”
It was only when he was given new clothes and led out to a waiting vehicle that he said he let himself believe.
“Only when they started giving me new clothes and leading me to the exit of the prison,” Hubbard told Trump. “I went out and I saw the car, and I was accompanied by a couple of Russians, then I believed, finally believed, on the drive from Moscow to St. Petersburg, ‘I’m really going somewhere.’”
The top federal prosecutor in Alaska confirmed on Friday the existence of a criminal investigation related to an alleged scheme to confuse voters by putting a candidate on the ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent.
Alaska U.S. Attorney Michael J. Heyman would not say what potential crimes authorities are looking into or the targets of the probe, but said he encourages the public to come forward with tips that could help investigators.
“When credible information comes out, we are committed to pursuing that information to deceive voters and we will act on it. We are acting on it intensely and swiftly,” Heyman said.
Heyman’s announcement comes after The New York Times reported that Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola’s campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting Dan J. Sullivan Jr. as part of an alleged effort to confuse voters.
In the last days of the midterm elections, prominent officials in the Trump administration traveled to the Midwest to promote a theme of the administration: Battling anti-government fraud.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, FBI Director Kash Patel and Dr. Mehmet Oz, the administrator for the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, said the administration has uncovered hundreds of billions nationwide in past fraud against government programs and blocked billions against a variety of programs.
They also announced charges in an alleged scheme to steal from Medicaid in Minnesota and promoted a previously announced whistleblower program.
“The days of indifference are over,” Bessent said.
Bessent said the news conference in St. Cloud, Minnesota — which was not officially a campaign event — was in the state because it’s “ground zero ” for fraud against government programs.
Fraud in Minnesota got a lot of attention starting late last year.
Binance, the world’s biggest cryptocurrency exchange, said earlier Friday that hackers stole more than $6 billion in what appears to be the largest cryptocurrency heist on record.
U.S.-based blockchain intelligence firm TRM has attributed the attack to TraderTraitor, which it described as North Korea’s elite hacking unit.
But asked about the hack during an Oval Office office exchange with reporters, Trump suggested that U.S. law enforcement was still investigating the matter.
“We don’t know” Trump said when asked about North Korean involvement. “We’re looking at that.”
Explaining his latest shift back to in-person rallies, the president said he received calls from “my friends that are very, very good” in Iowa and Kansas about his initial cancellations.
“They said, ‘if you can go, you would be better than a telerally,’” Trump said during a brief exchange in the Oval Office Friday afternoon.
He stressed that “we want to make sure we win Kansas” as well as Iowa, and “we should do that.”
The lawsuit accuses Marshall, a retired obstetrician, of charging illegally high interest rates on unpaid bills and unjustly enriching himself.
Former patient Meischa Zimmerman sued Thursday in Barton County District Court in western Kansas.
Marshall is seeking reelection, and Democrats have hammered him in ads over the issue.
Marshall’s campaign did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment Friday. Earlier this month, he said his practices were similar to those of other providers and sending a bill to collection was “a very, very rare situation.”
He said once it happened, “It was out of our hands.”
The New York Times reported that Marshall or his practice filed more than 700 lawsuits against patients over unpaid bills during the 35 years decades he practiced medicine, and in 81 cases, patients were arrested for missing court dates.
The sell-off for tech stocks on Wall Street got even worse on worries that the frenzy around AI sent prices too high.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.8% Friday for its worst day since June. The Nasdaq composite fell 2.9%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.1%. Intel sank almost 29% for its worst day since 1974 after giving a profit forecast that fell below analysts’ expectations.
Amazon’s latest profit report raised more worries about how much companies are spending on their AI Investments. Treasury yields sank as investors searched for safer things to own, even though oil prices rose.
The president hosted the retired teacher from Michigan a little over a week after he was freed from a Russian prison.
Hubbard had been behind bars for more than four years on charges that he fought as a mercenary in Ukraine. His legal team has denied the Russian accusations and said he was not involved in any military activity.
“He was somebody I wanted to get back,” Trump said as he hosted Hubbard.
Trump has said previously that he asked Russian President Vladimir Putin to free Hubbard and that the U.S. did not have to release anyone in return.
The White House allowed a limited pool of journalists into the meeting, allowing primarily news photographers and a television crew.
The State Department on Friday announced that the $2.1 billion sale of 500 Patriot air-defense interceptors to Kyiv was funded entirely by U.S. partners and allies.
“This proposed sale will support the foreign policy and national security objectives of the United States by improving the security of a partner country that is a force for political and economic stability in Europe,” the department said in a press release.
This comes after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy had warned earlier this month that his country had nearly run out of the vital military tool it needs to stop Russian ballistic missiles.
Zelenskyy had said that the Pentagon was delaying the delivery of missiles that other countries have purchased for Ukraine and issued an interruption into intelligence and early warning sharing as tensions between the Ukrainian leader and Trump had been escalating over several months.
A few dozen voters eating barbecue in Ames, Iowa, heard from Ashley Hinson Friday afternoon as she entered the final stretch of her campaign to be Iowa’s next U.S. senator.
Hinson later told reporters that she’s excited to close out the campaign strongly, including with a visit from the president.
President Donald Trump, who rallied in the northwestern corner of Iowa last week, will be on the ground again Sunday in a northeastern city. The in-person event shifted on Thursday to a telerally but the Republican National Committee confirmed Friday morning that it was back on for Dubuque, Iowa, after all.
“It elevates how important this seat is in holding the U.S. Senate majority,” Hinson said of Trump’s second visit. “He is continuing to drive home the message — our voters need to get out and vote.”
