Court documents released Monday by the Justice Department show that special counsel Jack Smith successfully obtained access to everyone who liked, retweeted or mentioned Donald Trump on Twitter, now known as X. The search warrant, issued in January by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, is part of Smith's investigation into Trump's actions leading up to the Capitol incursion of Jan. 6, 2021.
The release of the documents came as a result of a lawsuit brought by a consortium of media organizations seeking to bring sunlight to the special counsel's probe into Trump, the New York Post reported.
Conservative podcaster and attorney Eric Matheny responded to the warrant's release highlighting, "If you liked or retweeted Trump's tweets - the DOJ wants to know. Special Counsel Jack Smith's search warrant for Trump's Twitter account specifically seeks lists of Twitter users who engaged with Trump's account." "This government is out of control!" he added.
The Post reported that Twitter initially balked at handing over the data, saying it was a violation of Twitter users' First Amendment rights and the Stored Communications Act.
The federal judge overseeing the case sided with Smith and leveled a $350,000 fine against Twitter for contempt of court.
"For what appears to be the first time in its history, Twitter Inc. has filed a motion to vacate or modify an order that it not disclose the existence of a search warrant," Smith argued, insisting that "There is reason to believe notification to the former president, a sophisticated actor with an expansive platform, would result in a statutorily cognizable harm." "The was granted based on facts showing that notifying the former president would result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or other serious jeopardy to an investigation or delaying of trial," the special counsel wrote in the heavily redacted filing.
In August, Smith filed a four-count indictment against Trump related to the 2021 Capitol incursion and his alleged 2020 election interference.
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