2023-12-01 11:15:21
The November 30, 2023 Russia Today article, the transcript of which I report, focuses on a recent development in the investigation led by Special Prosecutor Jack Smith into former President Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 election Smith issued a warrant, requiring X (formerly known as Twitter) to provide unusual information about activity in the accounts of users who interacted with Trump, including by simply liking him.
This mandate reeks of ideological fury:
Jack Smith, the special prosecutor tracking Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump’s alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election, has ordered X (formerly Twitter) to provide information on the accounts of all users who interacted with the former president, according to a heavily redacted search warrant released by the U.S. Department of Justice on Monday.
The mandate requests “all information from the ‘Connect’ or ‘Notifications’ tab for the account [di Trump], 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’).” This is in addition to Trump’s search history, direct messages, a list of all users he has “followed, unfollowed, muted, unmuted, blocked or unblocked” and “the contents of all tweets created, written, favorited/liked or retweeted.” ” by the then president from October 2020 to January 2021.
According to the document, advertising information, topic preferences, communications with X support staff and data that have been deleted but remain available on the platform must also be handed over to the prosecutor.
“There is no benign or reasonable justification for such a request,” FBI whistleblower Steve Friend said in a post on X on Tuesday. Many Trump supporters took to X to express their disdain for the order, denouncing Smith as an “enemy of the people” and calling on Congress to stop its investigation.
The Justice Department released the warrant and several other documents in response to a Freedom of Information Act request from media organizations that objected to the secrecy of the investigation. The existence of the warrant only became public in August with Trump’s indictment, even though Smith had ordered X to provide the information in January, as the warrant included an order forbidding the company from informing Trump of the search.
While tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, or other serious risks to an investigation or delay of trial.” The platform ultimately agreed to release the data, but missed the court’s deadline, which resulted in a $350,000 fine for contempt of court.
Trump was indicted in August on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of a congressional proceeding and conspiracy to defraud the United States related to his alleged attempts to overturn the 2020 election. found not guilty of all charges. While the election interference case is just one of many felony charges filed against the Republican this year, he recently outpaced now-President Joe Biden in polls of likely 2024 voters.
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