Newly unsealed court documents reveal that Elon Musk wanted to disclose Jack Smith’s search warrant for Trump’s Twitter account, and Musk’s refusal to comply with the warrant resulted in a $350,000 fine.
“Although Twitter ultimately complied with the warrant, the company did not fully produce the requested information until three days after a court-ordered deadline,” according to the 34-page opinion by a three-judge panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals. “The district court thus held Twitter in contempt and imposed a $350,000 sanction for its delay.”
At issue was prosecutors’ decision to serve the warrant along with a “nondisclosure order” to prohibit X from notifying Trump about the warrant’s existence. X complained that the order violated the First Amendment and that the federal judge overseeing the matter at the time — U.S. District Court Judge Beryl Howell — should have blocked enforcement of the search warrant until the objection was resolved.
Elon Musk wanted to tip Trump off to the warrant, which would have jeopardized Jack Smith’s criminal investigation into Trump. The fact that Smith has thus far gotten into Trump’s inner circle and shattered his wall of silence has been impressive. It is equally impressive that Smith took on Musk and also won in court both in the initial ruling and on appeal.
Trump has an entire network of enablers and helpers trying to sabotage the government’s case against him. If Musk would have alerted Trump to the search warrant, it could have jeopardized the government’s investigation into Trump.
At each step in the process, the Special Counsel investigation has shown that they won’t back down from anyone. They are unrelenting in getting to the truth and building their case.
Not even Elon Musk could stop Jack Smith.
