Appeals court rejects X challenge to special counsel secret demand for Trump Twitter data

• A federal appeals court denied X Corp.'s latest challenge to a nondisclosure order it received as part of special counsel Jack Smith's search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account.
• The court's conservative judges objected, writing that the secret demand showed a "disregard" for executive privilege that "undermines the Presidency."
• Smith obtained a search warrant for Trump's account data as part of a criminal investigation into the former president's attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

A federal appeals court on Tuesday denied X Corp.'s latest challenge to a nondisclosure order it received as part of special counsel Jack Smith's search warrant for former President Donald Trump's Twitter account.

Smith first served X, formerly known as Twitter, with a search warrant for Trump's account data in January 2023, part of a criminal investigation into Trump's attempt to overturn his 2020 election loss to President Joe Biden.

At the same time, Smith obtained a nondisclosure order barring X from disclosing the search warrant to Trump or anyone else.

In granting Smith's request to keep the warrant a secret, a federal district court said it was reasonable to believe disclosure of the request would "result in destruction of or tampering with evidence, intimidation of potential witnesses, and serious jeopardy to the investigation."

X initially refused to comply with the warrant, and the district court in Washington, D.C., held the company in contempt and fined it $350,000. X ultimately turned over the data Smith was seeking.

In August, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit rejected X's first appeal of the order.

In September, X asked for a re-hearing before