Appeals court won’t re-hear case on keeping special counsel’s Twitter search secret from Trump
(CNN) — A federal appeals court said Tuesday it won’t re-hear a case concerning executive privilege and Twitter after special counsel investigators in the 2020 election interference case were allowed to access data from Donald Trump’s account without telling him.
Posted — UpdatedThe case has centered around questions about protection of communication around the presidency, and if Trump should have been informed when the special counsel’s office got court approval for a search warrant for his Twitter data. Ultimately, the courts decided federal investigators could access Trump’s account for its criminal probe, and Twitter could be forced to keep the search secret from Trump.
Both a trial-level judge and a three-judge panel in the Washington, DC, appeals court agreed that disclosing the Twitter search to Trump or his representatives could hurt the grand jury investigation. Eleven judges of the DC Circuit declined to look at the case again on Tuesday.
Twitter, now known as X, appealed the order that the social media company not disclose the investigative inquiry. Twitter had been fined $350,000 in court for delaying turning over data as it unsuccessfully tried to convince a judge to give Trump more information.
The investigation, which resulted in charges against Trump, ultimately obtained a few dozen direct messages Trump sent and other data connected to the @realDonaldTrump account.
Initially, Trump wasn’t informed of the pursuit of information by the special counsel, but did learn of the search later, before the public knew.
This story is breaking and will be updated.
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