Some explosive revelations have surfaced in the Justice Department’s effort to prosecute former President Donald Trump that could further indicate that the case against him is motivated by political concerns. In January, special counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for records related to the former president’s Twitter account.

The move was part of an investigation into Trump’s actions surrounding the 2020 presidential election and the riot at the U.S. Capitol Building on Jan. 6, 2021. The warrant compelled Twitter to turn over a massive range of data to the government.

Eight of the 14 pages related to the search warrant are completely redacted.

In the pages that aren’t obscured, there are demands by Smith for information on virtually every conceivable aspect of the 77-year-old former president’s Twitter account, including “all advertising information … and ad topic preferences,” all IP addresses associated with the account, Trump’s privacy and account settings, records of the account’s communications with Twitter support and all direct messages sent and received by the account from October 2020 to January 2021.

The government also sought information on users who interacted with Trump leading up to the riot.

“All information from the ‘Connect’ or ‘Notifications’ tab for the account, including all lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets posted by the account, as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e. “mentions” or “replies”),” the warrant states.

Not only did the DOJ demand a sweeping range of information about Trump’s Twitter account, it also issued a nondisclosure prohibiting the company from notifying the former president about the search.

The company, which was under Elon Musk’s leadership at the time, resisted the DOJ’s efforts to obtain the information while keeping them quiet about the matter, but was forced to do so anyway.

Twitter’s challenge to the DOJ was eventually unsuccessful, with Obama-appointed District Judge Beryl Howell fining the firm $350,000 in February for failing to fulfill a deadline for complying with the order.

All of Howell’s rulings were upheld by an appeals court.

The issuing of the warrant was ostensibly driven by Trump’s extensive use of the social media platform, especially in the lead-up to and aftermath of the 2020 election. The former president’s tweets are known to be contentious and polarizing as it was since he first assumed office. The DOJ insisted that Trump’s Twitter data was essential to investigating potential crimes. The agency is charging him with conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of Congress’ certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

To sum it all up, special counsel Smith and the Justice Department forced Twitter to hand over information on Trump’s account, including details on who followed, retweeted, or otherwise interacted with the former president on the platform. Not only that, but they also prohibited the company from informing the former president of the search.

The sweeping nature of the warrant will only fuel concerns that the Justice Department is being weaponized against Trump. It seems clear that the government was on a fishing expedition to find any indication of a crime that they could pin on the former president, who is facing multiple indictments from federal and state governments.

Much of the country is already suspicious of the apparent politicization of the DOJ and House Republicans have been investigating this issue. This new development will likely be seen as more evidence that political forces in the DOJ are using the government to go after Trump to influence the outcome of the 2024 election.