A search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account

The news site revealed that earlier this year, special prosecutor Jack Smith obtained a search warrant to search Donald Trump’s Twitter account. Politico who got his hands on a court document he unveiled on Wednesday. Twitter, a company later known as X, initially refused to comply with the warrant, which later earned it a $350,000 fine imposed by the trial judge whose decision was upheld by the appeals court. The disclosure of the appeals court decision allowed Politico to report on this shift related to the special counsel’s investigation into Donald Trump’s efforts to reverse the results of the 2020 presidential election.

“Although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, the company did not provide the full information requested until three days after the court deadline,” according to the 34-page ruling by a three-judge panel of the US Court of Appeals for the Washington Circuit. . Consequently, the district court found Twitter in contempt of court and imposed a fine of $350,000 for its delay. »

The story does not say why Jack Smith sought and obtained a search warrant to search the former president’s Twitter account. The latter used it to attack his opponents and rally his supporters until the day after the January 6, 2021 attack on the United States Capitol. The search warrant obtained by the special prosecutor prevented Twitter from telling Trump.

Based on sworn statements from one sideThe district court ruled that there was probable cause to search the Twitter account for evidence of criminal offenses. In addition, the district court found that there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that disclosure of the memo to former President Trump would “seriously prejudice the ongoing investigation” by giving him “the opportunity to destroy evidence, and to alter behaviour.” [ou] to inform allies,” the appeals court noted.

Elon Musk’s company opposed the search warrant citing the First Amendment to the US Constitution which guarantees freedom of speech.

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