Special counsel Jack Smith earlier this year sought and then received a search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account.
Politico reports that the warrant, which has not been previously disclosed, was initially met with resistance by Twitter, which resulted in the social media network being held in contempt of court and fine $350,000.
Twitter subsequently appealed the fine, which has now been upheld by the federal court of appeals in Washington, D.C.
"At issue was prosecutors’ decision to serve the warrant along with a 'nondisclosure order' to prohibit Twitter from notifying Trump about the warrant’s existence," writes Politico. "Twitter complained that the order violated the First Amendment and that the federal judge overseeing the matter at the time — U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell — should have blocked enforcement of the search warrant until the objection was resolved."
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It is unclear at this time why Smith was seeking access to Trump's account, although in order to get a warrant for it, he would have had to convinced a judge that there was probably cause to believe it contained evidence of criminal activity.
Trump's Twitter account was suspended in January 2021 shortly after he incited his supporters to march to the United States Capitol, where they then launched a deadly riot with the intention of blocking the certification of President Joe Biden's victory.
CEO Elon Musk would subsequently restore access to Trump's account, although Trump has yet to use it since his suspension and has instead preferred to use his own Truth Social network.
