Trump has bad cards: X handed over extensive secret documents to the court on January 6th
18. August 2023Trump has bad cards: X handed over extensive secret documents to the court on January 6th
San Francisco, 8/18/2023
Newly unveiled court documents reveal the scope of data provided by Twitter from former President Donald Trump’s account for the Jan. 6 investigation.
In a January search warrant, US Special Counsel Jack Smith searched all of Trump’s direct messages, drafts, liked and retweeted tweets, posts including deleted ones, and all searches linked to the account, the filings say.
Twitter, now X, was able to provide the data after initially missing a court deadline, resulting in a $350,000 fine. The dispute stemmed from a non-disclosure agreement that prevented Twitter from informing Trump about the warrant.
In response, Twitter claimed it had the right to notify Trump under the First Amendment, prompting a lengthy legal battle.
During hearings in February, a judge questioned whether the company’s opposition was part of CEO Elon Musk’s alleged efforts to „befriend“ Trump.
Eventually, a court ruled in favor of the government and the social media company turned over the information to Smith days after the deadline, resulting in a $350,000 fine for contempt.
