Jack Smith can prove Trump used Twitter to 'manipulate' followers into a frenzy on Jan. 6: experts

Special counsel Jack Smith's search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account could be an essential piece of the puzzle to prove his intent in the 2020 election investigation, legal experts told Salon's Areeba Shah in an analysis published Thursday.

Atlanta trial attorney Ted Spaulding told Salon, "Getting access to [Trump's] Twitter account could be hugely beneficial to the prosecution. They are looking for evidence of Trump's mindset leading up to Jan. 6 to prove intent to commit a crime. That is normally very hard to prove because you cannot really get into the mind of the accused."

"The thought is his Twitter posts could provide them insight into what Trump was thinking and ultimately his intentions."

Former House January 6 Committee counsel Temidayo Aganga-Williams agreed, saying access to the account is "an essential part of the puzzle of Trump's post-election actions."

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Trump tweeted furiously in the run-up to the attack on the Capitol, urging people to come to D.C. to attend a rally on a different part of the Mall, saying it "will be wild!" Many of the people who attended that rally, at which Trump and his supporters further riled up the crowd with comments about the electoral count, went on to join the mob at the Capitol, where they chanted "Hang Mike Pence!"

A report from earlier this week revealed the warrant. Twitter, which has since been rebranded as X by tech billionaire Elon Musk, defied the warrant, which led to the company being held in contempt of court and issued a fine of $350,000. The fine is currently held pending review by an appellate court.

Experts also weighed in on why Twitter might have resisted.

"Twitter's resistance to the warrant is likely rooted in Elon Musk's hostility to laws regulating conduct," said California civil rights lawyer V. James DeSimone, noting that Tesla has been held liable for racial discrimination and Twitter has been subject to numerous labor laws. "And the delay in providing the documents, even after being ordered to by the court, could be related to the dysfunction within the company after Musk's purchase of it."