Kyle Cheney Profile picture
Aug 16, 2023 13 tweets 8 min read Read on X
NEW: Jack Smith obtained a stunning amount of Trump’s data from Twitter — DMs (yes, there were DMs), location info, draft tweets and more — newly unsealed court docs show. https://t.co/ZPNSswoF3Wpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…

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But that’s just the start. The documents show Twitter mounted an unprecedented effort to impede the search warrant by notifying Trump — prompting an incredulous Judge Beryl Howell to wonder if Elon Musk was trying to “cozy up” to him. https://t.co/mVlasM13bOpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…
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Prosecutors repeatedly described Trump learning about their search warrant for his Twitter data as a serious threat to the investigation and to witnesses. https://t.co/suzboQeuKtpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…
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The bottom line: Twitter pleaded to inform Trump about a search warrant in a way that it apparently never did in its 17-year existence with any other user. It did this despite having no knowledge of the basis for the warrant or nondisclosure order. politico.com/news/2023/08/1…
MORE: Twitter’s basis for this was the prospect that some DMs could be covered be executive privilege. Howell and prosecutors were incredulous that Trump would be DMing close senior advisers to do official business https://t.co/QJfI5XyMG0politico.com/news/2023/08/1…

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Twitter says it doesn’t read users’ DMs but determined Trump sent/received them based on storage data: https://t.co/ONldmtkFnPpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…
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Howell kept returning to the theme of the company, under Musk seeming to want to ingratiate itself to Trump. She said many users with valid privilege claims (marital, religious, etc) don’t get that kind of treatment. So why Trump?

https://t.co/lBVGp9KWdUpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…
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Read the newly unsealed filings here:

And here: https://t.co/QyCRvwWSD2dcd.uscourts.gov/content/doc-50…
dcd.uscourts.gov/content/doc-50…
SIDE NOTE: An appeals court panel that upheld Howell’s contempt order against Twitter caused a boom of news stories saying Judge Howell found Trump was a flight risk (left).

She actually said the exact opposite (right). https://t.co/wdAdgtE6s7cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opini…

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MORE: One thing prosecutors appeared to pursue is who *currently* has the keys to the @realdonaldtrump account.

Apparently, at least as of February, the list included Trump’s representatives to NARA (left). That list (right) includes some fun names.

https://t.co/GWnQb7qRLtpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…

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@realDonaldTrump The discussion about Trump’s “fleets” is amazing. In sum:

Judge: WTF are fleets?

Twitter lawyer: No idea (!) just heard about them today

Special counsel: WTF are fleets?! But also, you better give us all of Donald Trump’s fleets.

https://t.co/8oXs1wVPBwpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…

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NOTABLE: Chief Judge Boasberg, who took over grand jury matters from Howell in March, lifted Twitter's non-disclosure order in June (when it was due to expire), which authorized Twitter to inform Trump about the search warrant.

Unclear if they told him.

https://t.co/MDHejUVUdrpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…

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In one of its unsealed filings, Twitter acknowledges that — given his aversion to texts and emails — Trump's DMs may be "the only such electronic communications written by the former President himself." https://t.co/EeGNT0Dwmcpolitico.com/news/2023/08/1…
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More from @kyledcheney

Dec 10
NEW: DOJ sidestepped key procedures when it pursued journalists' phone/email records during Trump's first term, a watchdog concluded.

politico.com/news/2024/12/1…Image
MORE: The department's sweeping effort to identify a classified info leak — which included seeking phone/email logs for Schiff/Swalwell and 43 staffers — was done without proper oversight and risks chilling Congress' legitimate work, the IG found. politico.com/news/2024/12/1…Image
Kash PATEL was among those swept up in this search, and he unsuccessfully sued over it last year. But the IG found that the 43 searched staffers were split along partisan lines w/ no evidence of political motivation. politico.com/news/2024/12/1…
Read 4 tweets
Dec 6
NEW: Federal judges overseeing Jan. 6 cases are watching as defendants grow more defiant, emboldened by Trump's return.

Their message about the gravity of the is about to become increasingly lonely in Washington.

w/ @joshgerstein

politico.com/news/2024/12/0…Image
Judges are pushing back on efforts to sweep Jan. 6 under the rug but worried that a large swath of the public has moved on. politico.com/news/2024/12/0…Image
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Judge Lamberth ordered a misdemeanor defendant — previoulsy convicted of a felony that was tossed because of SCOTUS — immediately jailed for a 12mo sentence.

And Judge Jackson worried that the "volume's getting turned up" on disinformation about 2020. politico.com/news/2024/12/0…Image
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Read 4 tweets
Dec 5
HAPPENING NOW: Enrique Tarrio, testifying at the trial of MPD officer Shane Lamond, has been combative, evasive and, at times, contradictory.

He seems to be relishing his attempt to fluster prosecutors. Drew a contempt threat from Juge Jackson when he refused to discuss Jan. 6.
The contempt threat for the former Proud Boys leader came on the first question from DOJ, when the prosecutor asked him if Proud Boys traveled to Washington on Jan. 6. Tarrio refused to answer and suggested he would plead the 5th even though he waived his 5th yesterday.
Tarrio also talked about timing his trip to Washington, D.C. for Jan. 4, 2021 because he knew he would be arrested for burning a BLM banner the month before and wanted to ensure he could be arrested and processed in time to be out for Jan. 6 events.
Read 5 tweets
Dec 2
BREAKING: Biden pardons Hunter Image
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BIDEN calls Hunter’s case “selective prosecution” instigated by his political adversaries. Not exactly the ringing endorsement of the special counsel process his DOJ has long made.
Biden says “raw politics” infected the case, causing a “miscarriage of justice.” Image
Read 6 tweets
Nov 30
NEW: Donald Trump hasn’t said a word since the election about his intent to pardon Jan. 6 defendants. It’s prompted some anxiety among supporters and a raging debate about his intentions.

politico.com/news/2024/11/3…Image
That debate has been compounded by the replacement of Matt Gaetz — a fervent ally of Jan. 6 defendants — with Pam Bondi, who has maintained radio silence on the issue for four years. politico.com/news/2024/11/3…Image
Trump’s transition team exacerbated the issue by vowing Trump would consider pardons “case by case,” a signal that he might not implement the sweeping blanket pardon many J6 defenders have called for. politico.com/news/2024/11/3…
Read 5 tweets
Nov 15
NEW: Few people have been more integrally linked to Donald Trump’s Jan. 6 gambit than Matt Gaetz.

Now, a man who has done as much as anyone to rewrite the history of that effort, could lead the prosecutors who have called it a stain on our democracy. politico.com/news/2024/11/1…Image
Before Jan. 6, Gaetz fomented false claims of voter fraud, then joined strategy sessions with Trump and other GOP lawmakers about overturning the election. He was in a meeting with Pence before Jan. 6. politico.com/news/2024/11/1…Image
GAETZ would later ask repeatedly for a pardon, one Eric Herschmann described as so broad and unbounded it would be unworkable. politico.com/news/2024/11/1…Image
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Read 7 tweets

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