A crucial and contentious midterm election arrives next week, and President Donald Trump's Justice Department has been scrambling with a blitz of headline-making actions and cases that defense lawyers, Democrats and other critics say is no coincidence and reeks of politics - in both the timing and the targets.

This month alone, the Justice Department escalated an investigation into Democratic U.S. Rep. Ilhan Omar with a search of her home; brought criminal charges against two former FBI officials accused of falsely downplaying their knowledge of investigations involving Hunter Biden; revealed a fresh attempt to prosecute former FBI Director James Comey; and made an unsuccessful attempt to indict a former White House aide who delivered dramatic but disputed testimony about Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

That's on top of lawsuits in Alaska and California related to next week's voting.