The timing of the search raises serious questions, according to several experts. David Sklansky, a professor at Stanford Law School and former federal prosecutor, said the search, even though it was conducted by Homeland Security officials, may have run afoul of two Justice Department policies, one formal and one informal.

“There’s lots of reasons to suspect this is politically motivated, and there’s very little evidence that it isn’t politically motivated,” Sklansky said.

Beyond the manual, Sklansky said the DOJ has an informal “60-day rule” where investigators are discouraged from taking actions close to an election. A 2018 inspector general report that criticized the handling of the probe of former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in the days leading up to the 2016 election noted that there was no written guidance for such situations.

Sklansky also noted the search came the same day that Trump invoked Omar at a rally in Ohio, as the president’s supporters chanted “deport.”

Sklansky noted that Omar or others who were targeted by the administration may be able to fend off any hypothetical charges by claiming that they were prosecuted because of their criticism of Trump, by seeking dismissal through a doctrine called vindictive or selective prosecution. But it won’t help them on Nov. 3.

“One of the weaknesses of those doctrines is that they don’t protect against abuses of the investigatory process,” Sklansky said. “Those doctrines don’t even kick in unless there is a criminal charge in court, which there isn’t at this point.”