Special counsel Jack Smith secretly obtained a search warrant of Donald Trump’s Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, in the investigation into Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election, according to a newly unveiled court filing. In January 2023, Smith’s office sought a warrant to push Twitter to hand over records under a nondisclosure order, which barred the social media platform from discussing the warrant with anyone—including Trump. According to the filing, the court found “there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that disclosing the warrant to former President Trump ‘would seriously jeopardize the ongoing evidence.’” Prosecutors and a judge feared Trump, if he knew about the warrant, would have “‘an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates’” and even “‘flee from prosecution,’” the filing states. However, although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, it dragged its feet and only produced the requested documents three days after a court-ordered deadline. The court held Twitter in contempt and sanctioned it with a $350,000 fine.
