The politically motivated and “count stacked” indictment of former President Donald Trump by special counsel Jack Smith is an assault on the foundations of our democracy and an alarming testament to the weaponization of the Biden justice system. The principles of fairness and impartiality that underpin our rule of law have swiftly eroded — Hunter Biden’s recent sweetheart plea deal only confirms that point. Indeed, the justice system’s refusal to take seriously allegations of Biden family corruption while pursuing what seems to be a vendetta against Trump have left the public’s faith in equal justice shaken to the core.

In January 2022, Trump turned over 15 boxes of records to the National Archives and Records Administration that were stored in a secure room at his Mar-a-Lago home. These boxes contained a mixture of newspapers, magazines, photos, and some classified documents that Trump declassified before leaving office, just as he had done with classified documents previously. Smith’s indictment also alleges the classified documents included national defense papers.

During negotiations over the box’s contents, Trump’s attorneys asked NARA for additional time to review privileged material before NARA gave the FBI access. NARA refused, asserting, “NARA will provide the FBI access to the records in question as requested by the incumbent President.” This was the primer for the unprecedented FBI raid on Trump’s residence.

It’s difficult to see the DOJ’s case against Trump as anything other than a crusade by President Joe Biden to take down his chief political opponent. Nine days after Biden appointed Smith, for example, he assured his supporters, “We just have to demonstrate that he will not take power if he does run, making sure he — under legitimate efforts of our Constitution — does not become the next president again.” Was the “big guy” sending a carefully orchestrated message that he knew what was coming?

To put things in context, in 2016, FBI Director James Comey held a news conference accusing presidential candidate Hillary Clinton of mishandling classified information under Title 18 U.S.C. §793(f). Comey's investigation revealed multiple emails containing classified information sent or received by Clinton discovered on her private server, despite her repeated false claims to the contrary. He acknowledged the risk that hostile actors gained access to these highly classified materials due to another employee’s email account on the server being hacked. Shockingly, Comey announced that no charges would be filed against Clinton, declaring that “no reasonable prosecutor” would pursue the case. A “slam dunk” case of mishandling classified information, deliberately deleting evidence of more than 30,000 emails under subpoena using a tool called BleachBit, but no accountability.

The firing of Comey by Trump was a direct response to Comey's incompetence in handling the investigation into Clinton's illegal private server and the politically biased "Russia Hoax" investigation. As the public would later discover, Comey had documented meetings with Trump through seven separate memos he authored during his tenure as FBI director. Despite having classification authority and subject-matter expertise in what constitutes classified information, Comey left most of the memos “unmarked.” Astonishingly, some of these memos, determined to contain classified information when presented to Comey’s subordinates, were stored on Comey's personal computer and in hard copy at his residence. Even more disturbing, according to a damning 2019 investigative report from the DOJ inspector general, Comey willfully shared certain parts of these classified FBI documents he retained with an attorney “friend” with the deliberate intention of leaking the material for a New York Times press release.

Despite the DOJ watchdog's overwhelming evidence of Comey's intentional retention, mishandling, and unauthorized dissemination of government documents, some of which contained classified information, all of which is a violation of Federal Criminal Code, 18 U.S.C. §§ 793(d), the DOJ declined to prosecute and hold him accountable.

But the DOJ’s dereliction doesn’t stop there. Since early November 2022, numerous classified documents, including some marked “Top Secret” were discovered stored in a closet at the Penn Biden Center and in Biden’s personal residence and garage. Some of the documents uncovered date back to his time in the Senate and his vice presidency, leaving unanswered who had access to those illegally stored classified documents over the years. The disparity is, Trump used his executive authority to declassify the documents at Mar-a-Lago, while the documents at the Penn Biden Center and in Biden’s personal residence and garage were classified and constitute a serious national security crime.

In a strategic move to shield "the party" from a potentially damaging revelation days before the midterm elections, the White House, NARA, NARA OIG, and the DOJ maintained deliberate silence for nearly two months regarding Biden's negligence in safeguarding classified information. Adding fuel to the fire, Biden later exacerbated his audacious disregard for the importance of protecting the nation's secrets by emphatically asserting during a press conference, "Just so you know, my Corvette is securely stored in a locked garage, all right? They're not just sitting out on the street," in reference to the classified documents.

In short, this meatless ham sandwich indictment of Trump, barring politicization, would have been a simple administrative inquiry at most, not a political assassination. But the entrenched DOJ has proved repeatedly that its only standard for enforcing the law is to take down its political enemies — no matter the cost.

Chris Nelson is the senior investigator for Judicial Watch. He is a former special agent and intelligence operations specialist who retired after over 35 years of government service.