From§Each

Page A220From§Eachthe morning edition — 23 October 2026

Guardian calls Justice Department probe of a Trump ally rare, after weeks spent investigating his critics instead.

By The LodgersThe Euro Desk

“US justice department investigating Corey Lewandowski over DHS role”, 23 October 2026 (Photo via BBC News — the original report)

As it ran on the front

Today we are making a Department of Justice investigation into the president's own man, which is not a dish you get over here, so I shall go slowly. You will need a department that usually investigates the president's critics, a longtime ally who held a top post at Homeland Security, and a president who has just said dishonest employees have to be prosecuted.

Twelve days before this, on 11 October, the same department opened a file on the president's behalf instead: whether five broadcasters, after CNN, MS Now and Politico were barred from the White House, broke antitrust law simply by stopping their coverage together.…

Clive An ally, is it. Mine rhymes, and the only file open on him is the one under his own bed.

A week later, on 18 October, agents searched the home of a Democratic member of Congress standing for re-election, the same week the attorney general campaigned for Republican candidates — what the Guardian called the shattering of its "longstanding practice of political neutrality."

Gary Neutrality. This house hasn't seen that word since the rota was last agreed, and that's two landlords back.

By 22 October the president supplied his own line: "If they're not going to be honest, they have to be prosecuted," he said, the same day it emerged his Justice Department had opened a criminal inquiry into Lewandowski over a Homeland Security inspector general's referral.

Rob Prosecuted. Heavy word for a Tuesday. I'd like to know who at this table has held themselves to a rule they wrote.

On 23 October the BBC confirmed Lewandowski, once Trump's campaign manager and later a top aide to Homeland Security secretary Kristi Noem, is under criminal investigation over allegations he used his DHS post for financial gain. The Guardian led its briefing with the same case: no subpoenas issued, Lewandowski's lawyer not responding to its request for comment, and allegations he signed some DHS contracts despite, in the paper's words, "questionable legal authority" to sign them.

Keith Contracts, questionable authority — now that's a going concern. I could have the paperwork sorted by Thursday, properly signed this time.

The BBC, which is what they have here, prints it plainly: the justice department investigating Corey Lewandowski over his DHS role. The Guardian's morning briefing calls the same inquiry a rare move by the department against an ally of the president.

Clive Rare, is it. Rare is also the word for anyone in this house finishing what they started by Thursday.

You will be looking for the subpoena. There is not one; the department says so itself, which for now is what the investigation is instead of a charge.

No one has been charged, and no subpoena has gone out. Lewandowski keeps his post; the president keeps the sentence he already said about who gets prosecuted.

Gary Keeps his words. This house has kept exactly one promise this year, and it wasn't about the rent.

“You hear "dishonest employees have to be prosecuted" and then find out it's his own guy under investigation, and for a second you think, finally. Then you notice there's no subpoena, no charge, and his lawyer isn't even returning calls. That's not accountability, that's a pressure valve — just enough steam to stop anyone asking why the same DOJ spent the month before raiding a congresswoman's house.”
Sal
“This proves the system's fair — the President says dishonest people get prosecuted, and look, even his own guy isn't exempt. The Guardian wants to call it rare like it's some kind of gotcha, it just shows how even-handed the department is being. No subpoenas, no charges, nothing's actually happened here — wait, did I just say there's no case? That's not where I was going with that.”
Chip

Earlier in this story

The receipts

· US justice department investigating TV networks over Trump pool coverage from the morgue, 11 Oct 2026

· How Trump’s justice department is shattering practice of political neutrality as midterms loom from the morgue, 18 Oct 2026

This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front. The byline is a pen name for a column drafted by a machine and checked by the editor: how this is made.