The
U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit
affirmed the federal trial judge's decision to hold Twitter, now
known as X, in contempt and fine it $350,000.
The ruling said that Twitter had raised First Amendment concerns
about a nondisclosure order issued over the warrant, as the
company wanted to notify Trump about it.
"Under the circumstances, the court did not abuse its discretion
when it ultimately held Twitter in contempt and imposed a
$350,000 sanction," the ruling said.
Trump, in a post on his social media site Truth Social, said the
Justice Department "secretly attacked my Twitter account, making
it a point not to let me know about this major 'hit' on my civil
rights." Prosecutors will often ask judges that targets of
subpoenas issued in criminal probes not be notified in order to
protect their investigations, a practice the appeals court cited
in Wednesday's ruling.
A spokesperson for Smith declined comment and a spokesperson for
X did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Wednesday's opinion did not identify which judge held Twitter in
contempt.
While Trump's tweets are publicly viewable, the company also
holds non-public information on accounts like direct messages,
drafts of tweets, location data and the type of device used to
send tweets.
The opinion said the warrant was related to Smith's
investigation into the events surrounding the Jan. 6, 2021,
siege on the U.S. Capitol by supporters of Trump while he was
still president.
Republican Trump last week pleaded not guilty to an indictment
that charged him with plotting to overturn his November 2020
election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Trump is the front-runner for the Republican 2024 presidential
nomination.
(Reporting by Jacqueline Thomsen and Kanishka Singh in
Washington; editing by Grant McCool)
[© 2023 Thomson Reuters. All rights
reserved.] Copyright 2022 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published,
broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.
|
|