The Department of Justice recently released a redacted subpoena for ex-President Donald Trump’s account on Twitter, now named X, amid Special Counsel Jack Smith’s investigation of attempts to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election.
The redacted warrant sparked outage among many social media users, as it requested “lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets posted” by Trump, “as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e. ‘mentions’ or ‘replies’).”
The warrant requested an array of other data from Twitter related to Trump’s account, such as personal information, devices used to log into the account, direct-message content sent by the account and information on whom the account followed, unfollowed, blocked and muted.
“All other content, records, and other information relating to all other interactions between the SUBJECT ACCOUNT and other Twitter users from October 2020 to January 2021,” the warrant said.
Smith is currently investigating Trump, accusing the former president of attempting to overturn the results of the 2020 election and over his actions related to the subsequent January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, waged by his supporters. While the redacted warrant requested information relating to accounts that followed and liked Trump’s posts on the social media platform, he has not explicitly said that he plans to investigate anyone else regarding the 2020 election.
However, the release of the warrant sparked an array of responses on X, with many users criticizing Smith and supporting Trump.
“Smith demanded Twitter provide data on ‘all lists of Twitter users who have favorited or retweeted tweets posted by [Trump], as well as all tweets that include the username associated with the account (i.e., ‘mentions’ or ‘replies’).’ Jack Smith also demanded Trump’s drafted tweets as well as his DMs,” Collin Rugg, co-founder of Trending Politics, wrote on X. “Enemy of the people.”
X user @ericmmatheny wrote, “Dear Jack Smith: My name is Eric Matheny and my Twitter handle is @ericmmatheny. I’ve shared and liked countless numbers of Trump’s posts, and I have followed him for years. Still do. Hope I’ve made your job easier.”
X user @GuntherEagleman said, “Dear Jack Smith, FBI, DOJ, I support President Trump, go ahead and put me on your f list … Don’t care. Signed A Real American.”
Tom Fitton, president of watchdog Judicial Watch, also spoke about the warrant, saying that it “lends further urgency to Congress DEFUNDING NOW this rogue operation. Call your members of Congress now to share your views.”