One claim really irked Twitter: the suggestion that Donald Trump was a flight risk.
In a phone call with Smith's office on January 31, Twitter's senior counsel "Raised specifically the claim in the Non-Disclosure Order that the former President was likely to flee from prosecution if the Non-Disclosure Order or Warrant was disclosed." Counsel further told Greg Bernstein, one of Smith's prosecutors, "That it seemed very unlikely that the former President presents a risk of flight because of a warrant for his Twitter data."
During a February hearing before Judge Howell, the flight risk matter was discussed on numerous occasions by the judge and lawyers representing Twitter.
Howell further challenged Twitter's request to remove the flight risk statement from the NDO. "Your modification was to take out of the NDO 'potential risk of flight by the President,' although he does have properties overseas that would be probative," Howell said.
In her March 3 order denying Twitter's motion to vacate the NDO and impose a $350,000 fine for allegedly delaying fulfillment of the subpoena-another falsehood as I explained here-Howell disclosed in a footnote that the NDO accidentally stated Trump was a flight risk.
A subsequent appellate court decision upholding the search warrant and NDO also revealed Smith's deception: "The district court also found reason to believe that the former President would 'flee from prosecution.' The government later acknowledged that it had 'errantly included flight from prosecution as a predicate' in its application. The district court did not rely on risk of flight in its ultimate analysis."
Smith cited Trump's risk of flight in both the application and proposed order sent to Howell.
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