The Justice Department under the Trump administration sought details about the identity of an anonymous Twitter critic of Republican Rep. Devin Nunes, newly unsealed court documents show.
The Justice Department used a grand jury subpoena on Nov. 24 in search of information about @NunesAlt, one of several such accounts devoted to criticizing and mocking Nunes, citing a criminal investigation into “threatening communications in interstate commerce.” On Sunday, Chief Judge Beryl Howell of the U.S. District Court of the District of Columbia ordered the case documents to be unsealed.
Along with the subpoena, which was obtained by the office of former acting U.S. Attorney Michael Sherwin, Twitter received a gag order preventing the company from notifying the account of the subpoena.
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A pair of law enforcement officials later told the New York Times for a report on Wednesday that the inquiry stems from a U.S. Capitol Police investigation into a purported online threat against Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and not Nunes.
In a motion to quash the subpoena filed on March 10, Twitter’s legal team argued that the gag order lacked a legal basis and outlined lawsuits filed by Nunes against various entities and individuals who did or published things critical or in opposition to him, including at least two other Twitter accounts. Twitter argued that those suits undermined the reason for the gag order in the first place.
“To the extent the government believes the user is likely to destroy evidence or tamper with witnesses, Congressman Nunes’s ongoing litigation efforts have already provided ample incentive for that conduct to occur,” the motion said.
The government informed Twitter’s legal team on March 17 that the grand jury subpoena at issue was withdrawn, according to one of the unsealed documents.
The Capitol Police confirmed on Tuesday that it is currently conducting an investigation into an online threat in relation to the subpoena, though the force did not disclose whether or to what extent @NunesAlt is involved, the New York Times reported.
The @NunesAlt account in question began responding to news of the subpoena on Monday, writing in part, “Why would the DOJ ever target me? Is it the mean tweets and bad memes? It’s not about me or this silly account. It’s about silencing all of us.”
There’s nothing remarkable about me. I’m a basic smartass with a Twitter account.
So then why am I being sued by a US congressman? Why would the DOJ ever target me?
Is it the mean tweets and bad memes?
It’s not about me or this silly account. It’s about silencing all of us. https://t.co/kdU87LVZI2
— Devin Nunes’ Alt-Mom (@NunesAlt) May 17, 2021
Nunes, a California Republican and former chairman of the House Intelligence Committee, established himself as a close ally of former President Donald Trump for leading the panel investigations into the Obama-era Trump-Russia inquiry.
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The Washington Examiner reached out to Nunes’s office and Twitter’s counsel for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
