Special counsel obtained search warrant for Donald Trump's Twitter account

The special counsel investigation into Donald Trump secured a search warrant of the former president's Twitter account, @realDonaldTrump, according to a newly unsealed court filing.

The search was so secret that Twitter was initially barred from telling Trump the search warrant had been obtained for his account, and the company, now known as "X," was fined $350,000 because it delayed producing the records sought under the search warrant.

The search warrant special counsel Jack Smith obtained sought "data and records related" to Trump's account, and ultimately, the platform was allowed to share some information about the search warrant with the former president.

The special counsel's office, which is now working on the criminal case against Trump in DC District Court related to his efforts to overturn the 2020 presidential election, sought the warrant in January 2023.

Twitter ultimately produced the records, according to the filing, now public in the US Circuit Court of Appeals.

Twitter and special counsel Jack Smith's office spent several months litigating the question of whether Trump should be told about the search warrant.

The dispute came to light on Wednesday when the DC Circuit Court of Appeals unsealed a decision upholding how the district court had handled the dispute, including its imposition of sanctions on the company, which missed a deadline for producing the information by three days.