Special counsel secured a secret search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account

New tribunal papers archetypal reported by Politico uncover that the peculiar counsel investigating erstwhile President Trump secured a hunt warrant for his Twitter relationship backmost successful January.

The documents, which were unsealed Wednesday, amusement that prosecutors exploring Trump’s relation successful the January 6 onslaught extended their hunt to Trump’s communications implicit societal media — peculiarly the level helium utilized to nonstop insurrectionists astatine the Capitol that day.

“Mike Pence didn’t person the courageousness to bash what should person been done to support our Country and our Constitution, giving States a accidental to certify a corrected acceptable of facts, not the fraudulent oregon inaccurate ones which they were asked to antecedently certify,” Trump wrote successful a tweet arsenic events astatine the Capitol unfolded. “USA demands the truth!”

A national justice signed the hunt warrant successful January and allowed prosecutors to secretly get entree to the Twitter relationship to preclude giving Trump “an accidental to destruct evidence, alteration patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates,” according to the documents.

Trump’s tweets were cited wide successful Special Counsel Jack Smith’s indictment of the erstwhile president, revealed past week. Smith charged Trump with 4 felonies related to his alleged efforts to overturn and undermine the results of the 2020 U.S. election.

In airy of his enactment connected the platform, Twitter permanently banned the then-president connected January 8, 2021. After taking implicit astatine the institution and rebranding it X, existent proprietor Elon Musk reversed the ban and reinstated Trump’s account. The erstwhile president, who is again moving successful 2024, ne'er returned to Twitter and present speaks straight to his followers connected Truth Social.

“Just recovered retired that Crooked Joe Biden’s DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a constituent not to fto maine cognize astir this large “hit” connected my civilian rights,” Trump posted to Truth Social connected Wednesday. “… Did Deranged Jack Smith archer the Unselects to DESTROY & DELETE each evidence? These are DARK DAYS IN AMERICA!”

It’s not instantly wide from the unsealed hunt warrant wherefore the peculiar counsel sought entree to Trump’s Twitter. The hunt warrant presumably would springiness the probe entree to his DMs, but besides mightiness assistance the investigation corroborate the provenance of immoderate tweets issued connected January 6 from the account.

Twitter seemingly dragged its feet successful complying with the peculiar counsel’s hunt warrant, providing the requested accusation down the deadline. The hold resulted successful the tribunal holding Twitter successful contempt and a $350,000 fine, aft the institution seemingly unsuccessfully objected to the nondisclosure bid paired with the request.

A fewer details successful the recently unsealed papers suggest that the mean pathways for ineligible requests astatine the institution present known arsenic X were dysfunctional arsenic of January.

“The authorities faced difficulties erstwhile it archetypal attempted to service Twitter with the warrant and nondisclosure order,” according to the documents. “On January 17, 2023, the authorities tried to taxable the papers done Twitter’s website for ineligible requests, lone to find retired that the website was inoperative.”