Judge Secretly Found That Trump Posed Risk of Evidence Tampering and Witness Intimidation in Twitter Search Warrant Fight

Judge Beryl Howell issued the sealed ruling in January , in granting Special Counsel Jack Smith secret access to Trump 's Twitter account.

The newly unsealed order does not mention Trump by name, except by reference to a target account, but it became public on the docket associated with prosecutors' obtaining a search warrant for the former president's account and an order gagging the company from disclosing it.

In August , unsealed filings revealed that Smith 's legal team obtained access to those direct messages.