With just nine days until the midterms, the Trump administration is escalating its assault on two of the Department of Justice's most sacred guardrails:
- Independence from the White House.
- Restraint before elections.
Why it matters: President Trump's DOJ has shattered the traditional calm of a pre-election period with a barrage of politically sensitive investigations, prosecutions and eleventh-hour efforts to influence the vote.
Zoom in: The Justice Department's most aggressive election intervention yet came this week in Alaska, where a preemptive lawsuit seeks to delay certification of the state's U.S. Senate results — if the Democrat wins.
- The DOJ argues that a second candidate, Dan J. Sullivan Jr., could confuse voters and siphon support from the Republican incumbent, Sen. Dan S. Sullivan.
- The administration wants certification halted if Sen. Sullivan loses to Democrat Mary Peltola but could have won with votes cast for the other Sullivan, pending an investigation into voter intent.
Between the lines: Alaska's Supreme Court already ruled that the second Sullivan belongs on the ballot, and the state's ranked-choice system allows voters to rank both candidates.
- Legal experts question the DOJ's authority to block certification of a state-run election, or how officials could determine voters' intentions without compromising ballot secrecy.
- Peltola's campaign and national Democrats have moved to intervene in the lawsuit, challenging the administration's preemptive attempt to halt certification.
Zoom out: Alaska is just one front in an October offensive aimed at rooting out alleged election fraud, investigating prominent Democrats and relitigating Trump's oldest political grievances.
- On Oct. 7, Trump established a White House committee to investigate alleged mortgage fraud by Federal Reserve governor Lisa Cook, authorizing DOJ personnel to participate in proceedings that could lead to her removal. Cook denies wrongdoing.
- On Oct. 12, federal agents searched Rep. Ilhan Omar's (D-Minn.) home and seized her cellphone as part of an investigation into possible immigration fraud. The Wall Street Journal reports that the administration is building a case to try to strip the Somali-born lawmaker of her citizenship, and ultimately deport her.
- On Oct. 15, DOJ sued California to block ballots from more than 20,000 suspected noncitizens. On Friday, prosecutors demanded that county officials segregate flagged ballots within 48 hours, warning of potential criminal liability. DOJ has also sought emergency appellate intervention.
- On Oct. 22, prosecutors unveiled an eight-count indictment against Virginia state Sen. Louise Lucas — a key figure in Democrats' redistricting efforts in that state — alleging she helped operate an illegal marijuana enterprise. Lucas denies wrongdoing.
- On Oct. 23, two former senior FBI officials were charged with lying to Congress about their roles in the Hunter Biden investigation. FBI Director Kash Patel cast the arrests as part of a crackdown on alleged political "weaponization" against Trump.
The big picture: The October blitz is unfolding alongside efforts to investigate or revive cases involving longtime Trump adversaries, including former CIA Director John Brennan, former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James.
Reality check: DOJ has long observed an informal 60- or 90-day period of heightened caution before elections, though no blanket prohibition exists.
- Asked Thursday about the Lucas indictment, Attorney General Todd Blanche dismissed the unwritten convention and pointed out that the investigation began under President Biden.
- DOJ's written rules separately prohibit prosecutors from timing investigations or charges to influence elections. Blanche says the agency doesn't do "political paybacks" and enforces the law impartially.
What they're saying: In a statement to Axios, DOJ defended its election-related interventions, arguing that the California cases concern alleged misconduct in previous elections.
- "Once an unlawful ballot is cast and counted, it cannot be uncounted," DOJ said. "We expect law enforcement to prevent harm, not just document it."
- The department called linking the Lucas and former FBI officials' cases to the midterms "a smear," noting that none of the defendants are on November ballots.
- On independence, DOJ argued that it is constitutionally part of the executive branch and accused the Biden administration of weaponizing federal law enforcement "against the American people."
The bottom line: In 2016, a single letter from then-FBI director Comey about Hillary Clinton's emails, sent 11 days before the election, was enough to provoke a national reckoning over the DOJ's political neutrality.
- A decade later, Blanche openly rejects the notion of independence from the White House as a "misperception," declaring this week: "I work for President Trump."
- On Friday, Trump took personal credit for ordering the Alaska lawsuit — an extraordinary intervention in a race that could decide control of the Senate.
- "I'm the one that said, 'Do it,' " he told reporters.