The Department of Justice operates under a foundational principle: prosecutors pursue justice, not political outcomes. That’s the official story, at least. The House Judiciary Committee’s 57-page interim staff report, released Wednesday and titled “How Jack Smith and the Biden-Harris Department of Justice Disregarded the Separation of Powers to Spy on Their Political Opposition,” suggests the reality under special counsel Jack Smith’s operation was considerably more complicated.

The report’s most direct allegation on the election front is this: Smith’s prosecutors released a massive trove of purported evidence in the final weeks before Nov. 5, 2024, the presidential election date. That timing placed the release squarely inside the window the DOJ’s own election-sensitivity guidance identifies as the highest-risk period for any government action that could appear to influence a vote. The committee characterizes it as a violation of department protocol.