UNITED STATES NEWS

Special counsel got a search warrant for Twitter to turn over info on Trump’s account, documents say

Aug 9, 2023, 9:58 AM | Updated: 12:12 pm

Special counsel Jack Smith’s team obtained a search warrant in January for records related to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, and a judge levied a $350,000 fine on the company for missing the deadline to comply, according to court documents released Wednesday.

The new details were included in a ruling from the federal appeals court in Washington over a legal battle surrounding the warrant that has played out under seal for months. The court rejected Twitter’s claim that it should not have been held in contempt or sanctioned.

Smith’s team repeatedly mentioned Trump’s tweets in an indictment unsealed last week that charges the former president with conspiring to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

Trump, a Republican, has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of Congress’ certification of Biden’s win. He posted on his Truth Social platform on Wednesday that the Justice Department “secretly attacked” his Twitter account, and he characterized the investigation as an attempt to “infringe” on his bid to reclaim the White House in 2024.

It’s unclear what information Smith may have sought from Trump’s Twitter account. Possibilities include data about when and where the posts were written, their engagement and the identities of other accounts that reposted Trump’s content.

The search warrant underscores the breadth of the investigation and the lengths Smith has gone to to obtain evidence to build his case. In a recent signal that Smith’s investigation is continuing, former New York Police Commissioner Bernie Kerik met Monday with investigators from special counsel Smith’s team.

Prosecutors obtained the search warrant on Jan. 17 directing Twitter to produce information on Trump’s account after a court “found probable cause to search the account for evidence of criminal offenses,” according to the ruling. The government also obtained a nondisclosure agreement that had prohibited Twitter from disclosing the search warrant, the filing says.

The court found that disclosing the warrant could risk that Trump could jeopardize the ongoing investigation by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior” or notify his allies, the filing says.

Twitter objected to the nondisclosure agreement, saying four days after the compliance deadline that it would not produce any of the account information, according to the ruling. The judges wrote that Twitter “did not question the validity of the search warrant” but argued that the nondisclosure agreement violated its First Amendment right to communicate with Trump

Twitter said if it had to turn over the records before the judge assessed the legality of the nondisclosure agreement, it would prevent Trump “from asserting executive privilege to shield communications made using his Twitter account,” the document says.

The warrant ordered Twitter to provide the records by Jan. 27. A judge found Twitter to be in contempt after a court hearing on Feb. 7, but gave the company an opportunity to hand over the documents by 5 p.m. that evening. Twitter, however, only turned over some records that day. It didn’t fully comply with the order until Feb. 9, the ruling says.

X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, sent an automated reply to a request for comment, saying it would respond soon.

In the broader case against Trump, his legal team has indicated it will argue that he was relying on the advice of lawyers in 2020 and had the right to challenge an election he believed was rigged.

Trump used his Twitter account in the weeks leading up to his supporters’ attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, to spread false statements about the election that prosecutors allege were designed to sow mistrust in the democratic process. The indictment details how Trump over Twitter encouraged his followers to come to Washington on Jan. 6, pressured his Vice President Mike Pence to reject the certification and falsely suggested that the mob at the Capitol — which beat police officers and smashed windows — was peaceful.

The warrant arrived at Twitter amid rapid changes instituted by Musk, who purchased the platform last year. Since taking over he’s transformed the influential site, laying off much of its staff, including workers dedicated to ferreting out misinformation and hate speech.

He also eliminated Twitter’s policy on COVID-19 misinformation and welcomed back a long list of users who had been previously banned, including neo-Nazis, COVID deniers and Trump, who was kicked off after the attack on the Capitol for glorifying violence.

Trump has yet to post to the site since being allowed back on. As Trump once did, Musk has used the platform as a partisan megaphone.

Last year Musk urged his many online followers to vote Republican in the midterm elections. This year he hosted Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis for a glitch-filled campaign kickoff.

A spokesman for the special counsel’s office declined to comment on the warrant or what it sought.

___

Richer reported from Boston. Associated Press reporters Michelle Price, David Klepper and Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this report.

United States News

Associated Press

Judge again orders arrest of owner of former firearms training center in Vermont

BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) — A judge has again issued an arrest warrant for the owner of a former firearms training center in Vermont, ruling that he is in contempt of court for failing to bring his property into compliance after an inspection last week. “Respondent has failed to do so. As such, imprisonment is an […]

5 minutes ago

FILE - Rep. Patrick McHenry, R-N.C., speaks with reporters as he departs after a Republican caucus ...

Associated Press

North Carolina Rep. McHenry, who led House through speaker stalemate, won’t seek reelection in 2024

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina Rep. Patrick McHenry, who presided temporarily over the U.S. House for three intense weeks while Republicans struggled to elect a permanent speaker after Kevin McCarthy’s ouster, announced Tuesday that he won’t seek reelection to his seat next year. McHenry, who was first elected to the House in 2004 at […]

26 minutes ago

FILE - The U.S. Supreme Court is seen on Wednesday, Nov. 15, 2023, in Washington. The Supreme Court...

Associated Press

Supreme Court throws out case that could have limited lawsuits over disability access

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a case surrounding a Maine hotel that could have made it harder for people with disabilities to learn in advance whether a hotel’s accommodations meet their needs. Hotels and other business interests had urged the justices to limit the ability of so-called testers to file lawsuits […]

3 hours ago

File - An employee works inside the Hanwha Qcells Solar plant on Oct. 16, 2023, in Dalton, Ga. On T...

Associated Press

US job openings fall to lowest level since March 2021 as labor market cools

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. employers posted 8.7 million job openings in October, the fewest since March 2021, in a sign that hiring is cooling in the face of higher interest rates yet remains at a still-healthy pace. The Labor Department said Tuesday that openings were down significantly from 9.4 million in September. U.S. hiring is […]

3 hours ago

Associated Press

Cause sought of explosion that leveled an Arlington, Virginia, home as police tried to serve warrant

ARLINGTON, Va. (AP) — Hours before a massive explosion destroyed a duplex and shook a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C., a suspect inside his home fired a flare gun 30 to 40 times into the neighborhood, drawing a large police response, officials said Tuesday. All officers escaped serious injury but it was unclear what happened […]

5 hours ago

FILE - Math teacher Doug Walters sits among empty desks as he takes part in a video conference with...

Associated Press

Students around the world suffered huge learning setbacks during the pandemic, study finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Students around the world suffered historic setbacks in reading and math during the COVID-19 pandemic, with declines in test scores so widespread that the United States climbed in global rankings simply by falling behind less sharply, a new study finds. The state of global education was given a bleak appraisal in the […]

8 hours ago

Sponsored Articles

Follow @KTAR923...

Valley residents should be mindful of plumbing ahead of holidays

With Halloween in the rear-view and more holidays coming up, Day & Night recommends that Valley residents prepare accordingly.

Follow @KTAR923...

The 2023 Diamondbacks are a good example to count on the underdog

The Arizona Diamondbacks made the World Series as a surprise. That they made the playoffs at all, got past the Milwaukee Brewers in the NL Wild Card round, swept the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NLDS and won two road games in Philadelphia to close out a full seven-game NLCS went against every expectation. Now, […]

...

DAY & NIGHT AIR CONDITIONING, HEATING AND PLUMBING

Importance of AC maintenance after Arizona’s excruciating heat wave

An air conditioning unit in Phoenix is vital to living a comfortable life inside, away from triple-digit heat.

Special counsel got a search warrant for Twitter to turn over info on Trump’s account, documents say