The recent charges against former President Donald J. Trump, accusing him of conspiring to overturn the 2020 election, have taken an interesting turn. Federal prosecutors gained access to a collection of private direct messages that Trump sent through his Twitter account during the winter. This revelation is significant because Trump has been known for his cautiousness when it comes to written communications.
The court papers, which were unsealed on Tuesday, revealed that the special counsel’s office, led by Jack Smith, obtained these direct messages from Twitter after a legal battle over the warrant to search Trump’s social media. Twitter eventually shut down Trump’s account shortly after the attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
According to transcripts of hearings in Federal District Court in Washington, the special counsel’s office sought all direct messages from Trump’s Twitter account as part of their search warrant. Twitter confirmed that they had turned over all direct messages, including those that were sent, received, and even stored as drafts. They found both deleted and non-deleted direct messages associated with Trump’s account.
The warrant, signed by a federal judge in January, marks the first instance of prosecutors directly searching Trump’s communications. This expands the scope of the special counsel’s investigation into the former president. It is worth noting that Trump’s Twitter account was often managed by Dan Scavino, a longtime adviser, and it remains unclear if any direct messages were from when Scavino was handling the account.
In response to the revelation, a spokesman for Trump referred to a post that the former president made on his social media website, Truth Social, in which he criticized Mr. Smith and accused him of breaking into his Twitter account. Trump questioned what new information Smith could possibly find.
The charges against Trump allege three overlapping conspiracies: defrauding the United States, disrupting the certification of the election, and depriving people of their right to have their votes counted. Trump’s use of Twitter is detailed in the indictment, including his call for followers to gather in Washington on January 6 for a protest that ultimately led to the attack on the Capitol.
The indictment also highlights how Trump used Twitter to falsely create the expectation that Vice President Mike Pence had the authority to reverse the election outcome during the certification proceeding. When Pence did not comply, Trump blamed him on Twitter, which further fueled the events that unfolded that day.
The warrant for Trump’s Twitter account also included a provision that prevented Twitter from informing him about the investigation. This was done to prevent destruction of evidence, witness tampering, or jeopardizing the investigation. Twitter challenged this provision, arguing that it violated their First Amendment rights, but ultimately lost the fight and was fined $350,000 for contempt of court.
Overall, the unsealing of these court papers sheds new light on the investigation into Trump’s actions surrounding the election and highlights the role that his Twitter account played in the events leading up to the attack on the Capitol.
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