Elon Musk accused of withholding Twitter data to ‘cozy up’ to Trump

A federal judge accused Twitter boss Elon Musk earlier this year of impeding prosecutors’ access to Donald Trump’s account data in an effort to “cozy up” to the former president, unsealed court records show.

Washington, DC, US District Judge Beryl Howell laid into the billionaire and lawyers for the social media company, now known as X, during a Feb. 7 hearing after the requests made by special counsel Jack Smith as part of his investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot were denied.

“Is it because the CEO wants to cozy up with the former president, and that’s why you are here?” Howell pressed Twitter lawyer George Varghese.

“No, Your Honor. It’s whether or not they are facially valid,” the attorney replied.

At another point in the hearing, the judge also suggested Twitter was acting in Trump’s interest to make up for having kicked the 45th president off the platform following the riot.

“Is this to make Donald Trump feel like he is a particularly welcomed, new, renewed user of Twitter here?” Howell asked.

“Twitter has no interest other than litigating its constitutional rights, Your Honor,” Varghese said.

Politico first reported on the newly unsealed court filings.

Howell held Twitter’s attorneys in contempt of court and fined the company $350,000 for ignoring the deadline to respond to Smith’s search warrant for the data — including private messages, draft tweets and location info.

She also faulted Twitter for taking the “momentous” step of informing Trump, 77, about the warrant after prosecutors warned that doing so could hinder their probe of the former president’s attempts to overturn the result of the 2020 election.

“If the former president had notice of these covert investigative steps, there would be actual harm for the investigation, for the witnesses going forward,” Gregory Bernstein, a prosecutor in Smith’s office, told the court.

Twitter lawyers raised concerns that turning over Trump’s direct messages could violate executive privilege and waved off arguments from prosecutors that the search was needed because the former president represented a flight risk.

Several Trump lawyers and staff had access to the Twitter account as of February, including former White House chief of staff Mark Meadows and former White House counsel Pat Cipollone and his deputy Patrick Philbin.

Smith indicted Trump Aug. 1 on charges of conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction of and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.

Federal prosecutors have proposed a Jan. 2, 2024, trial date for the case, as the former president faces three other indictments for alleged business fraud, improperly retaining classified material and trying to reverse the 2020 election results in Georgia.