Democratic Senate candidate Mary Peltola denied Thursday that she knew anything about an effort to put another candidate on the Alaska ballot with the same name as the Republican incumbent as the Justice Department escalated a criminal investigation with new grand jury subpoenas.

Republican Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy has ordered an investigation into the Democratic candidate running for the U.S. Senate in the state after revelations that her campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting another candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

President Donald Trump called for the criminal prosecution of the Democratic candidate running for Senate in Alaska on Wednesday after revelations that her campaign appeared to be involved in recruiting a candidate with the same name as Republican incumbent Dan Sullivan.

President Donald Trump called for Mary Peltola to leave Alaska's Senate race and be prosecuted on Wednesday.

One of them is a Republican senator and ally of the president. The other is a retired schoolteacher whom Republicans accuse of being a Democratic plant to siphon away votes.

The lawsuit centers on one of the president's longstanding complaints in the Senate race — the presence of a second candidate named Dan Sullivan who Republicans fear could siphon away votes from the incumbent in what's likely to be a photo-finish contest with Democrat Mary Peltola.