Defense lawyers and Democrats say a blitz of headline-making actions and cases is no coincidence and reeks of politics β in both the timing and the targets.
As Trump officials stump for Republican candidates facing difficult races, ethics experts say they are being lax about complying with the Hatch Act, a federal anti-corruption law.
In some cases, court paperwork bears unmistakable signs of urgency β typos, unorthodox tactics and the signatures of the departmentβs senior political leadership.
Attorney General Todd Blanche announcing the indictment of L. Louise Lucas, a prominent Virginia Democrat, on drug-trafficking charges last week in Norfolk, Va.
Blanche told CNN's "State of the Union" that President Donald Trump, who said Friday that he was "the one that said do it," is not trying to overturn state election results "in any way, shape or form" on the cusp of the Nov. 3 election.
With moves in Alaska and California, the department has stepped up interventions in the midterm elections as the presidentβs instrument of unmediated executive power.
President Trump during a campaign rally in support of Senator Dan S. Sullivan in Wasilla, Alaska, this month. Mr. Trump urged the Justice Dept. to intervene in the Senate race.
Virginia state Sen. L. Louise Lucas, one of the state's most powerful Democrats, was charged on Thursday in connection with what federal authorities alleged was a role leading a wide-ranging criminal enterprise that acquired and distributed large quantities of marijuana and laundered the proceeds.
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