(Ken Silva, Headline USA) A newly unsealed court opinion shows that Special Counsel Jack Smith obtained a search warrant for Donald Trump’s Twitter account as part of his investigation into the former president, and that Twitter was held in contempt after contesting and failing to comply with the warrant.
The opinion from the Washington DC Appeals Court—issued in July and made public Wednesday—shows that Smith obtained a search warrant in January that directed Twitter to produce data and records related to”@realDonaldTrump.” The Justice Department also slapped a gag order on Twitter to prevent the company from notifying Trump about the warrant.
At first, Twitter fought both the warrant and the non-disclosure order, according to the appeals court opinion.
Twitter argued that the order violated the company’s First Amendment right to communicate with Trump, and that Trump may have legal standing to raise his executive-privilege rights to block the warrant. Twitter further argued that it shouldn’t have to comply with the DOJ’s warrant until the non-disclosure issue was resolved.
Twitter had until Jan. 31 to comply with the warrant. When it didn’t, the DOJ sought a court order to hold the company in contempt.
At a Feb. 7 hearing, Obama-appointed District Judge Beryl Howell heard arguments from both parties about Twitter’s noncompliance with the search warrant.
Judge Howell ruled in favor of the DOJ on both issues, and ordered Twitter to comply with the warrant by 5 p.m. that day. When Twitter again failed to do so, Howell slapped a $350,000 fine on the company.
The appeals court upheld all of Howell’s decisions.
“In sum, we affirm the district court’s rulings in all respects. The district court properly rejected Twitter’s First Amendment challenge to the nondisclosure order,” the appeals court said.
“Moreover, the district court acted within the bounds of its discretion to manage its docket when it declined to stay its enforcement of the warrant while the First Amendment claim was litigated,” the court added.
“Finally, the district court followed the appropriate procedures before finding Twitter in contempt of court—including giving Twitter an opportunity to be heard and a chance to purge its contempt to avoid sanctions. Under the circumstances, the court did not abuse its discretion when it ultimately held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction.”
Ken Silva is a staff writer at Headline USA. Follow him at twitter.com/jd_cashless.
