On Wednesday, a transcript of the Feb. 7 legal hearing was released, during which U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell questioned whether Elon Musk's Twitter account was attempting to "cozy up" to Donald Trump. This was in relation to Jack Smith's search warrant for Trump's social media, which ended in Twitter being subjected to a penalty of $350,000 when they provided the requested data on Feb. 9.
As part of a criminal investigation into Donald Trump's attempt to overturn the 2020 U.S. presidential election, a federal judge inquired if the company that is now referred to as X was trying to "cozy up" to the ex-president by refusing to give the data associated with his account. Court transcripts released Wednesday showed that U.S. District Judge Beryl Howell interrogated X's legal team during a hearing on Feb. 7 about the delay in giving the materials to special counsel Jack Smith, who had a search warrant for Trump's Twitter page. At the time, X was not honoring the warrant, citing various legal arguments and its wish to inform Trump about the probe. Following the Capitol riot, Tesla CEO Elon Musk acquired Twitter in late 2020 and then restored Trump's account. "X has had some time to agree to the state and have everything ready to give, so I am concerned about where we are," Howell said, according to the transcript. Eventually, X delivered Smith's squad the pertinent data linked to Trump's Twitter page on Feb. 9 and was later charged $350,000 as part of a contempt sanction. Trump was charged earlier this month on counts associated with his attempts to overturn his loss to President Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential election. The previous president now faces 91 felony charges across four criminal cases.
At various points during the February hearing, Howell questioned Twitter's lawyers about the “scope” of the warrant and the information the government sought. She queried, "Is it because the CEO wants to cozy up with the former president, and that's why you are here?" A seemingly tense back-and-forth ensued between the judge and the legal team on the proper ways to search for the material and what data was appropriate for the government to gather. Howell argued over interpretations of the First Amendment and executive privilege, which Twitter contend would impede its ability to provide materials to the government. Responding to Howell's query, "It couldn't be that Twitter is trying to make up for the fact that it kicked Donald Trump off Twitter for some period of time that it now is standing up to protect First Amendment rights here, is it?" George Varghese, Twitter's lawyer, responded with “No, your honor,” adding that the nature of the search request provided a legal reason for not complying with the order. Howell then asked if the company was trying "to make Donald Trump feel like he is a particularly welcomed new renewed user of Twitter, here." Varghese responded by saying, "Twitter has no interest other than litigating its constitutional rights, your honor." A spokesperson for X declined to comment. WATCH: X Corp. CEO Yaccarino: We're keeping an eye on everything that Threads is doing.
Comments