Recently unsealed court documents have shed light on a legal dispute between the social media platform, now known as X, and Special Counsel Jack Smith, who sought access to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account. The documents reveal a tense battle between Twitter and the authorities over compliance with a search warrant for Trump’s account, raising questions about the company’s actions and motivations.
According to Politico’s reporting by Kyle Cheney, the search warrant demanded a range of information from Trump’s account, including direct messages, location data, draft tweets, and a comprehensive list of liked, favorited, and retweeted tweets, even those that had been deleted. The situation escalated when Twitter resisted complying with the search warrant and was subsequently fined $350,000 for delaying its response, citing a nondisclosure order that prevented them from notifying Trump about the probe.
During the legal proceedings, U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell expressed frustration and skepticism regarding Twitter’s actions. The court documents reveal that Judge Howell questioned whether Elon Musk, associated with X, was attempting to “cozy up” to Trump by resisting the search warrant and non-disclosure order. She emphasized the extraordinary efforts made by Twitter to protect Trump’s account, suggesting that such efforts were uncommon, even when other users had valid privilege claims.
Furthermore, Judge Howell inquired about Twitter’s apparent emphasis on defending Trump’s First Amendment rights in the context of his suspension from the platform. She queried whether Twitter was making special efforts to make Trump feel particularly welcomed or renewed as a user. The judge repeatedly returned to the theme of Twitter’s actions, seemingly aimed at ingratiating itself with the former president.
The court documents also reveal that discussions took place regarding whether Trump’s direct messages could fall under executive privilege, a significant legal consideration. Additionally, Judge Howell pressed Twitter’s legal representatives about prosecutors’ concerns that disclosing the existence of the search warrant could jeopardize their ongoing investigation.
Howell kept returning to the theme of the company, under Musk seeming to want to ingratiate itself to Trump. She said many users with valid privilege claims (marital, religious, etc) don’t get that kind of treatment. So why Trump? https://t.co/vdhI6YrskP pic.twitter.com/lBVGp9KWdU
— Kyle Cheney (@kyledcheney) August 16, 2023
