Last week, we learned that Special Counsel Jack Smith obtained a warrant to gain access to former President and 2020 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump’s Twitter account —now we know what he was after.
According to a Newsmax report, Smith’s team got access to Trump’s draft tweets and direct messages on Twitter despite “momentous” pushback from the social media company, according to court papers unsealed Tuesday
From Newsmax:
It remained unclear what kind of information the messages contained and who may have written them, the court documents showed.
The prosecutors, who have been investigating Trump for trying to overturn the 2020 presidential election, obtained the data despite a fierce attempt by Twitter lawyers in January and February to block the request.
The dispute centered on prosecutors’ demand that Twitter not notify Trump about the search warrant Smith’s team had obtained, and the social media company’s concern that prosecutors were seeking data that could be covered by executive privilege.
U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell held Twitter in contempt of court in February and fined the company $350,000 for missing a court-ordered deadline to comply with Smith’s search warrant.
Unsealed transcripts of the Feb. 7 proceedings in Howell’s courtroom showed that the judge excoriated Twitter for taking “extraordinary” and apparently unprecedented steps to give Trump advance notice about the search warrant.
More over at Politico:
Special counsel obtained Trump DMs despite ‘momentous’ bid by Twitter to delay, unsealed filings show https://t.co/qvTqaaiQRC
— POLITICO (@politico) August 16, 2023
