On Tuesday, a federal appeals court dismissed X’s challenge against Special Counsel Jack Smith’s covert search warrant for Trump’s X account.
It was previously disclosed that Special Counsel Jack Smith admitted to including inaccurate information in his request for a secret search warrant from Judge Beryl Howell.
As a result of delaying the production of subpoenaed records, X was fined $350,000.
The secrecy surrounding the search warrant was such that even Trump himself was unaware of Jack Smith’s subpoena for the records.
The Justice Department under Biden obtained a nondisclosure order preventing X from informing Trump about the subpoena.
Throughout the lengthy legal battle, X argued that this nondisclosure order violated the First Amendment and Stored Communications Act.
Conversely, the Justice Department claimed that Trump would jeopardize the ongoing investigation if he were made aware of the search warrant.
In August, the DC Circuit Court Appeals concluded that there were sufficient grounds to believe that Trump would indeed compromise the ongoing investigation if he had knowledge of the search warrant.
“The district court, according to the DC Circuit’s opinion, “found that there were ‘reasonable grounds to believe’ that disclosing the warrant to former President Trump ‘would seriously jeopardize the ongoing investigation’ by giving him “an opportunity to destroy evidence, change patterns of behavior, [or] notify confederates.”” CNN reported in August.
Jack Smith confessed to Judge Howell that he had provided incorrect information by insinuating that Trump might try to flee if he found out about the undisclosed gag order.
In September, X requested a hearing before the entire court of 11 judges (en banc) in the DC Circuit Court of Appeals. However, on Tuesday, the Court’s 11 judges rejected X’s challenge.
Nonetheless, the 4 conservative judges expressed strong criticism towards Jack Smith, Judge Beryl Howell, and Judge Florence Pan for their decision to bypass executive privilege by obtaining a secret search warrant for Trump’s X account.
“The Special Counsel’s approach obscured and bypassed any assertion of executive privilege and dodged the careful balance Congress struck in the Presidential Records Act.” – Judge Naomi Rao wrote in a statement joined by the 3 other conservative judges on Tuesday.
Holy sh*t: 4 judges on DC appellate court just delivered a scorching smack down of Special Counsel Jack Smith, Judge Beryl Howell, and Judge Florence Pan for search of Trump’s Twitter file.
“The Special Counsel’s approach obscured and bypassed any assertion of executive… pic.twitter.com/jwIIIxeZPB
— Julie Kelly 🇺🇸 (@julie_kelly2) January 16, 2024
The Biden Department of Justice, led by Jack Smith, requested data pertaining to Twitter-X users who retweeted President Trump, expressed approval for his tweets, or referenced his account in their own tweets.
ICYMI: New Jan. 6 Videos Confirm Capitol Police Officer Was Not Truthful In Oath Keepers Trial
