Is the Justice Department colluding with Harris campaign?

OPINION:

Just weeks ago, the Department of Justice received wide, bipartisan criticism for helping the Biden-Harris administration deflect blame for its inflationary economic policies right before the presidential election.

To give Vice President Kamala Harris cover, the department filed suit against technology that landlords use to help determine the market rates for their properties. In doing so, DOJ played right into Ms. Harris’ campaign tactic of blaming property managers for high rents.

Just about every economist in the country knows that this suit is ridiculous and that it’s really the White House’s agenda that has raised the cost of not only housing — which remains one of the most inflated items in the economy today — but also food, gasoline and health care.

The Wall Street Journal editorial board recognizes the absurdity of this, too. In a recent editorial, it argued that the suit is “an attempt to distract voters from frustration over the Biden administration’s inflationary policies,” which it is.

As if helping the administration scapegoat the private sector for its policy failures weren’t enough interference for one election cycle, DOJ is working to help illegal immigrants vote in November.

On Oct. 11, the Department of Justice filed a lawsuit against the state of Virginia, asserting that the state’s efforts to remove ineligible voters from its voter rolls violated federal law. The issue surrounds a 2006 law signed by then-Gov. (and current senator) Tim Kaine that requires that noncitizens be removed from the voter rolls. It wasn’t until Gov. Glenn Youngkin enforced the law and removed 6,303 ineligible voters from the rolls that DOJ pounced.

Mr. Youngkin did not take the federal pushback lying down. He hit back.

“With less than 30 days until the election, the Biden-Harris Department of Justice is filing an unprecedented lawsuit against me and the Commonwealth of Virginia for appropriately enforcing a 2006 law signed by Democrat Tim Kaine that requires Virginia to remove noncitizens from the voter rolls — a process that starts with someone declaring themselves a noncitizen and then registering to vote,” Mr. Youngkin said. “Virginians — and Americans — will see this for exactly what it is: a desperate attempt to attack the legitimacy of the elections in the Commonwealth, the very crucible of American Democracy.”

The Republican governor is not alone in feeling that DOJ is trying to influence the election results. A former federal prosecutor, Andy McCarthy, called DOJ’s actions “shameful,” and Virginia Attorney General Jason Miyrares pledged to “defend these commonsense steps, that we are legally required to take, with every resource available to us.”

At a time when many Americans are already questioning the integrity of our elections, the Department of Justice is only adding to the reasons for cynicism and mistrust in America’s institutions.

This isn’t the first time DOJ parachuted into Virginia; it did so one month before the 2021 election to tip the scales in favor of one party.

When Mr. Youngkin ran for governor that year, DOJ partnered with a partisan organization to smear Virginia parents protesting the actions of school boards in places such as Fairfax and Loudoun counties. Attorney General Merrick Garland described parents as a threat and called their attendance at school board meetings “criminal conduct.” The House Judiciary Committee issued a detailed report that criticized the department, demonstrating that there was “no legitimate basis” for its actions.

Enough is enough.

Between DOJ’s protection of noncitizen voters, its inflation finger-pointing, its accusations of parents and its unfair targeting of the Republican nominee for president, there is now plenty of evidence that the Department of Justice is governing based on electoral considerations instead of legal ones.

Fortunately, Congress established the House Select Subcommittee on Weaponization of the Federal Government — naming Rep. Jim Jordan, Ohio Republican, as its chair — for this very reason.

With these recent cases of purported election interference at DOJ, Mr. Jordan and his fellow committee members have their work cut out for them.

DOJ’s actions, from supporting the Harris campaign’s inflation blame game to attacking election security measures in Virginia, represent a dangerous trend toward politicizing our legal system. By siding with the Biden-Harris administration at key moments, the Department of Justice is undermining the public’s trust in the impartiality of the justice system and the integrity of our elections. It’s time for Congress to hold the department accountable and restore faith in American democracy.

• Corey R. Lewandowski is a senior adviser to the Donald J. Trump for President campaign. He was also a senior adviser to the 2020 campaign and campaign manager in 2016.