According to an unsealed appellate court ruling, Twitter was forced to hand over records from former President Donald Trump’s account to the special counsel investigating the events leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, attack and pay sanctions for failing to do so more quickly.
Beryl A. Howell, a lower-court judge, decided in March that Twitter, now known as X, must comply with a sealed search warrant requested by the special counsel and pay $350,000 for missing a court-ordered deadline by three days. According to the complaint, Howell had grounds to think that if the search warrant was made public, Trump would engage in obstructive behaviour or evade prosecution.
Twitter filed an appeal with the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, which upheld Howell’s decision in July. The appellate judgement has been released now that Trump has been charged with four felonies connected to his attempts to remain in office after losing the 2020 election.
Twitter’s attorneys did not object to the search warrant but contended that a gag order prohibiting the business from informing Trump about the search violated the First Amendment. The corporation contended that the documents should not be turned over until that problem was settled. Howell agreed with the government and found Twitter in contempt of court on February 7 for failing to cooperate with the search order. She gave Twitter until 5 p.m. to produce the documents, with penalties of $50,000 per day, which would be doubled for each day Twitter did not comply. Three days later, Twitter released the records.
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Trump was banned from Twitter two days after the attack on January 6. Elon Musk restored Trump’s access to Twitter after purchasing the firm in 2022, but the former president has yet to return to the platform.
Although the court does not specify what was provided over, a subpoena may include any tweets and direct messages, as well as information on who had access to the account. The grand jury indictment of Trump, brought down earlier this month, includes references to 18 of Trump’s tweets, including seven dated January 6. In those texts, Trump circulated phoney fraud allegations, insulted officials who attempted to correct the record, mobilised followers to Washington on January 6, and pressed Pence to assist in overturning the election results.
Twitter’s First Amendment rights were not violated, according to a panel of three appeal judges, since “the nondisclosure order was a narrowly tailored means of achieving compelling government interests” – protecting the integrity of a grand jury inquiry. The appellate court panel, comprised of two Biden appointments and one Obama appointee, determined that it was within Howell’s discretion to refuse to postpone the execution of the search warrant.
The appellate panel also affirmed Howell’s $350,000 fine, stating it was justified “given Twitter’s $40-billion valuation and the court’s goal of coercing Twitter’s compliance.”
