Jack Smith bypassed Twitter’s obstacles and gained access to Trump’s private messages and location information.
Special Counsel Receives Data from Twitter on Trump’s Twitter Account
Special Counsel Jack Smith has obtained a wealth of data from Twitter regarding former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account, according to recently unsealed court documents.
Smith was appointed to investigate Trump’s alleged efforts to overturn the 2020 election results, including the events leading up to the Capitol incursion on January 6, 2021, as well as the alleged unlawful retention of classified materials at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Twitter, formerly known as X, vehemently opposed the search warrant, leading U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell to question whether the new CEO was trying to cozy up to the former president.
“Twitter has no interest other than litigation [sic] its constitutional rights,” said attorney George Varghese of WilmerHale, representing the company.
Judge Howell fined Twitter $350,000 for failing to comply with Smith’s search warrant by the court’s deadline, as reported by Politico.
Although Twitter eventually complied with the warrant, it did so three days after the deadline, according to the Daily Caller News Foundation.
The warrant sought access to Trump’s direct messages, a list of devices used to log into his account, and location information, among other pieces of information.
Twitter’s attorneys argued that some of this information might be covered under executive privilege, but the judge found this argument ridiculous, as it would imply that Trump conducted important government business through a social media platform.
Prosecutors also demanded that Twitter not inform Trump about the search warrants, citing the importance of maintaining the integrity of the investigation.
“There actually are concrete cognizable reasons to think that if the former president had notice of these covert investigative steps, there would be actual harm and concern for the investigation, for the witnesses going forward,” said Gregory Bernstein, a member of Smith’s team.
Initially, the district court issued a nondisclosure order preventing Twitter from notifying anyone about the warrant. Twitter contested this order, claiming it violated the First Amendment and the Stored Communications Act.
However, last month, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia upheld the lower court’s decision.
Furthermore, the judge noted that Twitter had no knowledge of the evidence presented by the special counsel’s office, which supposedly explained why informing Trump of the search warrant could have led to witness tampering or other issues affecting the investigation.
“You don’t even know the half about the very warrant you are coming in here to delay the execution of,” Howell said.
Interested readers can view the recently unsealed document, consisting of 204 pages, here.
Upon learning about the search warrant, Trump criticized Smith, calling him a ”lowlife” who committed an “atrocity” by seeking the warrant.
“How dare lowlife prosecutor, Deranged Jack Smith, break into my former Twitter account without informing me and, indeed, trying to completely hide this atrocity from me,” the former president wrote on TruthSocial. “What could he possibly find out that is not already known. Just like the early morning raid of Mar-a-Lago! Why isn’t the DOJ raiding Crooked Joe Biden, the most CORRUPT (and Incompetent!) President in the history of the United States?”
The post Jack Smith Got Access to Trump’s Direct Messages, Location Data Despite Twitter’s Roadblocks appeared first on The Western Journal.
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