Marc Elias has reportedly received a DOJ target letter in the criminal probe of the decoy “Dan Sullivan” on Alaska’s Senate ballot. So has the DSCC. A target letter is not an indictment. Elias gets the presumption of innocence — something the Lawfare crowd never extended to me. But notice the difference. Arguing in court that an election was flawed is advocacy. The First Amendment protects it. What’s alleged here is something else: recruiting a retired teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan to sit on the ballot next to Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, so voters pick the wrong one. That’s not advocacy. It’s deception aimed at the voters themselves. And it isn’t just Republicans saying so. The New York Times reported that texts and documents tie the effort to the DSCC and its top law firm. Alaskans are voting today with both names on the ballot. Last week I said a fairly picked grand jury should hear this. We’re one step closer. Advocacy is protected. Fraud on voters is not. And here's the apex point -- Elias didn't just, it seems, participate in picking the fake Dan Sullivan, he then entered as if he was an uninvolved legal advocate, riding both sides of the sapling. Hypocrisy and deception.
— Jeff Clark (@JeffClarkUS) November 3, 2026
Marc Elias has reportedly received a DOJ target letter in the criminal probe of the decoy “Dan Sullivan” on Alaska’s Senate ballot. So has the DSCC.
A target letter is not an indictment. Elias gets the presumption of innocence — something the Lawfare crowd never extended to me.
But notice the difference.
Arguing in court that an election was flawed is advocacy. The First Amendment protects it.
What’s alleged here is something else: recruiting a retired teacher named Daniel J. Sullivan to sit on the ballot next to Sen. Dan S. Sullivan, so voters pick the wrong one.
That’s not advocacy. It’s deception aimed at the voters themselves.
And it isn’t just Republicans saying so. The New York Times reported that texts and documents tie the effort to the DSCC and its top law firm.
Alaskans are voting today with both names on the ballot.
Last week I said a fairly picked grand jury should hear this. We’re one step closer.
Advocacy is protected. Fraud on voters is not.
And here's the apex point -- Elias didn't just, it seems, participate in picking the fake Dan Sullivan, he then entered as if he was an uninvolved legal advocate, riding both sides of the sapling.
Hypocrisy and deception.
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