The U.S. special counsel investigating Donald Trump obtained a search warrant for the former president’s Twitter account in January. However, Twitter, now known as X, delayed complying with the warrant. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the federal trial judge’s decision to hold Twitter in contempt and fine it $350,000. Twitter had raised First Amendment concerns about a nondisclosure order issued over the warrant, as the company wanted to notify Trump about it. The ruling stated that the court did not abuse its discretion in holding Twitter in contempt and imposing the sanction. Trump, on his social media site Truth Social, claimed that the Justice Department secretly attacked his Twitter account without informing him, violating his civil rights. The appeals court cited the practice of not notifying targets of subpoenas in criminal probes to protect investigations. The opinion did not identify the judge who held Twitter in contempt.
While Trump’s tweets are publicly viewable, Twitter also holds non-public information on accounts, such as direct messages, drafts of tweets, location data, and the type of device used to send tweets. The search warrant was related to the special counsel’s investigation into the events surrounding the January 6, 2021, siege on the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters. Last week, Trump pleaded not guilty to charges of plotting to overturn his election loss to Joe Biden in November 2020. He is currently the front-runner for the Republican 2024 presidential nomination.
The spokesperson for Special Counsel Jack Smith declined to comment, and Twitter did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Thomson RushHourDaily Trust Principles apply to this article. Jacqueline Thomsen, based in Washington, D.C., covers legal news related to policy, the courts, and the legal profession. Follow her on Twitter at @jacq_thomsen and email her at jacqueline.thomsen@thomsonRushHourDaily.com. Kanishka Singh is a breaking news reporter for RushHourDaily in Washington DC, primarily covering US politics and national affairs. His past breaking news coverage includes topics such as the Black Lives Matter movement, the US elections, the Capitol riots, the Brexit deal, US-China trade tensions, the NATO withdrawal from Afghanistan, the COVID-19 pandemic, and a Supreme Court verdict on a religious dispute site in India.
