Heavily redacted documents related to search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account released

Special counsel Jack Smith’s comprehensive search warrant for information related to former President Donald Trump’s Twitter account sought the 2024 Republican presidential primary front-runner’s search history, drafted tweets, blocks and mutes.

The special counsel also demanded a list of all devices used to log into the account and information on users interacting with Trump, heavily redacted court filings show.

The search warrant, issued in January against the company now known as X, was among several documents released by the Justice Department Monday as part of a lawsuit brought by media organizations seeking sunlight on the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s actions leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol.

The filings shed some light on what investigators were looking for when they issued the warrant against the social media company owned by Elon Musk.

They initially delayed in complying, resulting in a $350,000 fine leveled against the company.

The subpoena for Trump’s Twitter account information was issued to the social media company in January. USA TODAY Sports via Reuters Con

Eight of the 14 pages related to the search warrant are completely redacted.

In the pages that aren’t obscured, there are demands by Smith for information on virtually every conceivable aspect of the 77-year-old former president’s Twitter account, including “all advertising information … and ad topic preferences,” all IP addresses associated with the account, Trump’s privacy and account settings, records of the account’s communications with Twitter support and all direct messages sent and received by the account from October 2020 to January 2021.

The government also sought information on users who interacted with Trump leading up to the riot.

“All information from the ‘Connect’ or ‘Notifications’ tab for the account, including all lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets posted by the account, as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e. “mentions” or “replies”),” the warrant states.

Smith sought Trump’s direct messages and information about the accounts that interacted with Trump leading up to the Jan. 6, 2021, riot at the US Capitol. AFP via Getty Images

The warrant was issued to the social media giant along with a nondisclosure order, instructing the company not to notify Trump about the search.

Twitter balked at the nondisclosure order, arguing in a failed court challenge that it was a violation of the First Amendment and the Stored Communications Act.

The DOJ’s opposition to the company’s attempt to notify Trump about the warrant was also released Monday.

“For what appears to be the first time in its history, Twitter Inc. (‘Twitter’) has filed a motion to vacate or modify an order that it not disclose the existence of a search warrant,” Smith argued, insisting that “there is reason to believe notification to the former president, a sophisticated actor with an expansive platform, would result in a statutorily cognizable harm.”

“The NDO was granted based on facts showing that notifying the former president would result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or other serious jeopardy to an investigation or delaying of trial,” the special counsel wrote in the heavily redacted filing.

Smith formally lodged a four-count indictment against Trump in August over his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election.

Trump was an avid user of the social media platform during his presidency.

He was barred from Twitter following the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot, but reinstated in November 2022 after Musk took over the company.