US special counsel got search warrant for Trump's Twitter account in Capitol riot probe

US Special Counsel Jack Smith, who was investigating former president Donald Trump over the Capitol Hill riot, obtained a search warrant for his Twitter account, as per an appeals court opinion on Wednesday (August 9). The search warrant was obtained in January this year and Twitter, which is now rebranded X, delayed complying. The US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit affirmed the federal judge's decision to hold Twitter in contempt and fine it $350,000.

The ruling stated that Twitter raised First Amendment concerns about a nondisclosure order issued over the warrant, as it wanted to notify Trump about it. "Under the circumstances, the court did not abuse its discretion when it ultimately held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction," the ruling said.

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The court's opinion did not identify which judge held Twitter in contempt.

'They secretly attacked my Twitter account': Trump hits out at DOJ

On Wednesday, Trump lashed out at the Department of Justice (DOJ) by saying that it secretly attacked his Twitter account. "Just found out that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major “hit” on my civil rights," Trump said in a post on his social media platform Truth Social on Wednesday.

"My Political Opponent is going CRAZY trying to infringe on my Campaign for President. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Does the First Amendment still exist? Did Deranged Jack Smith tell the Unselects to DESTROY & DELETE all evidence? These are DARK DAYS IN AMERICA!" the former president added.

The search warrant

According to a report by CNN, the search warrant sought “data and records related” to Trump’s Twitter account, and ultimately, the platform was allowed to share some information about the search warrant with the former president.

Twitter and Special Counsel Smith's office had spent several months litigating the question of whether the former president should be told about the search warrant.

While Trump's tweets are publicly viewable, the company also holds non-public information on accounts like direct messages, drafts of tweets, location data and the type of device used to send tweets.

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