Politicized investigations

Politicized investigations are inquiries opened, prolonged, suppressed, or steered for political effect rather than on the basis of evidence and the law. Concrete forms include the opening of investigations into political opponents on thin or pretextual grounds, the suppression or slow-walking of investigations that implicate the administration's allies, the directed leaking of investigative material for political effect, and public commentary by senior officials that prejudges outcomes. Legitimate investigations are evidence-driven and conducted with normal-course procedural integrity; politicized investigations bend the process to political ends.