Donald Trump's Ignorance About Twitter Search Warrant Raises Questions

Donald Trump's claim that he was only just made aware that Special Counsel Jack Smith's office had asked Twitter to hand over historical records related to the former president's account has been questioned by a legal expert.

Lisa Rubin, an attorney and legal analyst for MSNBC, was reacting to reports that federal prosecutors in January obtained a search warrant for Trump's account on the social media platform, now called X, and that the company's initial resistance to comply resulted in a $350,000 fine.

It's unclear what information Smith's office was seeking with the warrant, as part of the federal probe into the events that led up to the Capitol riot. Trump repeatedly used his Twitter account to spread misinformation about the 2020 election results, as well as urge his supporters to come to Washington D.C. on January 6, 2021, to take part in "wild" election protests. The former president has pleaded not guilty to four charges resulting from Smith's investigation.

The details of the fine handed to Twitter were revealed on Wednesday, after the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeal unsealed a previously redacted version of the ruling. The motion says the court found that there were "reasonable grounds to believe" that disclosing the warrant, which the government applied for on January 17, 2023, to Trump would "seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation" by giving him "an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior."

The search warrant requested by the government was served, along with a nondisclosure order that prohibited Twitter from notifying anyone about the existence or contents of the warrant.

However, as noted by Rubin, on June 20, 2023, federal prosecutors filed an amendment to motion in the district court, which would permit Twitter to alert the former president about the warrant.

Rubin has now speculated that Trump may have been aware that the government had obtained a search warrant for his Twitter account before the news broke on Wednesday.

"When Trump claims he found out about the Twitter search warrant today just like the rest of that, be skeptical," Rubin posted on X. "Why? Because on June 20, the Special Counsel's office applied to modify the prior nondisclosure order to 'permit Twitter to notify the former President.'

"The D.C. Circuit opinion released today not only describes that motion but reflects it was granted. So while the warrant mostly remains subject to the nondisclosure order through ~Dec. 20, Twitter was allowed to tell Trump about the warrant's 'existence and contents' in June," Rubin added.

"Yes, Trump's legal team has changed even since then. But are we really supposed to believe Twitter did not exercise the disclosure rights it fought for? Or that Trump's lawyers didn't share the news? I don't think so."

Trump's legal team and X's press office have been contacted for comment via email.

In a post on Truth Social on Wednesday, Trump said this was the first he had heard about the search warrant for information on his account, while attacking the investigation into him.

"Just found out that Crooked Joe Biden's DOJ secretly attacked my Twitter account, making it a point not to let me know about this major 'hit' on my civil rights," Trump wrote.

"My Political Opponent is going CRAZY trying to infringe on my Campaign for President. Nothing like this has ever happened before. Does the First Amendment still exist?"

Twitter didn't oppose the search warrant, but argued that the nondisclosure order preventing the social media company from telling Trump about it violated the First Amendment. District Court Judge Beryl A. Howell rejected Twitter's argument and found the company in contempt on February 2.

Howell then issued Twitter with a fine of $50,000, doubling for each day of noncompliance. The company eventually complied on February 9, and paid a $350,000 fine.