Alaska Republican US Sen. Dan Sullivan received more than $10,000 in campaign donations from Epstein associates just months after voting to block the release of the Epstein Files.
The revelation from Meidas News is the latest twist in one of the nation’s highest-stakes Senate races and came in the days ahead of Sullivan’s critical vote to confirm Todd Blanche as US attorney general. Blanche, a pivotal figure in the Trump administration’s handling of the Epstein Files who’s insisted that there’s nothing more to come from the files, was confirmed over the weekend by a single vote.
The connections at the heart of the Meidas story include contributions to Sullivan from billionaire Henry Kravis, who appeared in Epstein’s list of key business contacts, though he has not been personally accused of wrongdoing related to Epstein. He gave $8,500 to the Sullivan Victory Committee on April 1 of this year.
And then there’s a $693 contribution to Alaskans for Dan Sullivan by New York real estate executive Howard Lorber, who showed up in the Epstein emails released by the House Oversight Committee. In the documents, Lorber is on a short list of influential people for a proposed “war council” to support President Donald Trump amid the fallout of the Russia investigation. The email also mentioned people like Rudy Giuliani and Trump’s former attorney and fixer, Michael Cohen, though Epstein followed up by writing that he wasn’t sure Trump would actually listen to the group’s advice.
Lorber also appears to have been involved in a real estate investment that included a sweetheart deal for Epstein, notably well after Epstein was forced to register as a sex offender in 2008.
The Alaska Democratic Party was quick to pounce on the revelations.
“This is disgusting,” said Alaska Democratic Party Chair Eric Croft in a statement. “After voting against releasing the Jeffrey Epstein files, Dan Sullivan is now taking money from ultra-wealthy donors who were Epstein’s associates. Too many politicians in DC protect the rich and powerful and enable their corruption – and Dan Sullivan, who tried to block the release of the Epstein files to the public, is one of them.”
Sullivan voted against releasing the Epstein Files in Sept. 2025, at a time when President Donald Trump was fighting against their release. But after it became clear that a small band of Republicans in the US House were ready to buck Trump and force a vote on the release of the files, the president eventually reversed course and backed the vote, at which point Sullivan voted for the release of the files.
Since Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law, however, his Department of Justice—most recently with Blanche as acting attorney general—has repeatedly undermined and violated the law, releasing only a portion of the files, and exposing the private information and names of several victims, while redacting the names of powerful associates and alleged co-conspirators.
Trump and the GOP’s handling of the Epstein files has been a particularly motivating issue for voters, with more than three-quarters of Americans believing the Trump administration is hiding something. Even some on the far right have broken with Trump, feeling like he betrayed a campaign promise to bring child sex predators to justice.
One of the latest players in that effort is Blanche—who oversaw the release of the Epstein files and has insisted there’s nothing else to see. On Wednesday, he and the DOJ were sued by New Mexico for hampering New Mexico’s investigation into a ranch owned by Epstein, where it’s suspected much of his trafficking activities in the US took place.
And yet, Sullivan has long made clear that he intended to vote to confirm Blanche as attorney general. Sullivan even hosted him for a visit to Alaska earlier this summer.
“In keeping with the Senator’s requests of all cabinet-official nominees, Todd Blanche visited Alaska earlier this year to understand the state and its challenges,” Sullivan’s office told KTUU. “The Senator had a productive visit with Mr. Blanche, supports his nomination, and looks forward to continuing their work on key issues pertaining to Alaska.”
Meanwhile, Alaska’s other US senator, Republican Lisa Murkowski, was an unknown on Blanche, but on Friday confirmed that she planned to vote against him.
“I take issue with the handling of the release of the Epstein files; the sweeping immunity protections granted to the President, his family, and their businesses; the statements that have been made to anti-abortion groups; and the repeated targeting of individuals ranging from former administration staff to sitting U.S. Senators,” the senator said on social media. “The country needs an Attorney General who will check the worst impulses of this administration. … I simply do not have confidence that will be the case.”
Her decision came the day after Alaska-born Epstein survivor Marijke Chartouni penned an editorial in the Anchorage Daily News calling on Murkowski to reject Blanche’s confirmation. In it, she criticized Blanche’s treatment of Epstein survivors, arguing that everything from the clumsy redactions that exposed victims’ information to a trainwreck of a meeting with survivors showed he’s more interested in protecting Trump than delivering justice.
“The government already has the information it needs to pursue justice. The released files contain numerous investigative leads, but Blanche has been clear that he won’t look into anyone beyond Epstein, who is dead, and Ghislaine Maxwell, who was transferred to a minimum-security prison under Blanche’s watch,” she wrote. “To Blanche, our truths will always be more of a PR problem than a matter of justice.”
Matt Acuña Buxton is a long-time political reporter who has written for the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner and The Midnight Sun political blog. He also authors the daily politics newsletter, The Alaska Memo, and can frequently be found live-tweeting public meetings on Bluesky.
