Smith was apparently in a race against time because the Department of Justice frowns on prosecutors indicting candidates too close to an election, and we are obviously getting close to an election. From the Washington Post: “In about 10 days, a Justice Department policy known as ‘the 60-day rule’ will take effect forestalling any new filing of charges against the former president, who is again the Republican nominee for the White House.” Now, you can look up the “60-day rule” and see that some experts believe the actual number is sort of vague or that it is really a 90-day rule. If that is the case, Smith missed the deadline by a lot. If the number is 60 days, he just made it.

And by the way, the old 60- or 90-day rule was based on the fact that there was an actual election day when nearly everyone voted. That is no longer the case; in many states, it’s more like election month. And with early voting starting as early as Sept. 20 in some states, Smith blew up the rule any way you look at it. The new indictment comes 24 days before voting starts in those states.

In any event, Smith has without doubt violated an explicit DOJ guideline that says, “Federal prosecutors and agents may never select the timing of any action, including investigative steps, criminal charges, or statements, for the purpose of affecting any election, or for the purpose of giving an advantage or disadvantage to any candidate or political party.” By any accounting, Smith has stomped all over that one. How else would one describe an indictment of a presidential candidate that comes after both conventions and two weeks before the candidates’ debate?

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Indeed, the public interest in the presidential campaign is so intense — focusing on polls, Vice President Kamala Harris’s positions, her upcoming first interview, the debate, and more — that one could sometimes forget that Trump has multiple criminal indictments still against him. And then there is a looming sentencing Sept. 18 in another criminal case in New York in which he was found guilty of business fraud in a prosecution some experts found entirely without merit.

But remember why many Democrats cheered on the elected Democratic prosecutors in New York and Georgia, and the prosecutor appointed by Democrats in Washington, D.C., who pursued the lawfare charges against Trump. With Trump running away with the Republican nomination, and with President Joe Biden’s age and infirmity depressing Democratic enthusiasm and support for his reelection bid, the future looked grim for the party’s prospects in the 2024 presidential race. At times, the only bright spot was the lawfare campaign, which many Democrats hoped would cripple Trump if all else failed.

In her still-young campaign, Harris has made Trump’s criminal charges, plus a couple of lawsuits against him in New York, a central moment of her stump speech. For example, at a rally in Wisconsin, Harris said that as a prosecutor, “I took on perpetrators of all kinds: predators who abused women, fraudsters who ripped off consumers, cheaters who broke the rules for their own gain. So hear me when I say I know Donald Trump’s type.” (Harris was referring to the E. Jean Carroll suit and then the New York lawsuit against Trump, as well as the New York indictment.)

Harris is certain to bring up the Trump prosecutions when the two meet in their Sept. 10 debate — and again and again after that, all the way until Election Day. After all, what was the lawfare campaign all about?

This new indictment keeps interest fresh. Reacting to the charges, Trump focused on the election angle. “This is merely an attempt to INTERFERE WITH THE ELECTION, and distract the American people from the catastrophe Kamala Harris has inflicted on our nation, like the border invasion, migrant crime, rampant inflation, the threat of World War III, and more,” Trump posted on Truth Social. Of course, Democrats will deny that the new indictment has anything to do with the election, but look around. Look at the news coverage. Look at the calendar. The Trump prosecutions are a huge part of the election, and many Democrats wouldn’t have it any other way.