Washington, Aug 9 (AP) Special counsel Jack Smith's team obtained a search warrant in January for records related to former President Donald Trump's Twitter account, and a judge levied a USD 350,000 fine on the company for a delay in complying, according to court documents released Wednesday.

The details were included in a decision from the federal appeals court in Washington rejecting Twitter's claim that a lower court judge was wrong to hold the company in contempt and impose the sanction.

Also Read | Anti-LGBTQ Law: World Bank Says No New Funding to Uganda Over Anti-Gay Law.

The filing says Smith obtained a search warrant directing twitter to produce “data and records” related to Trump's twitter account as well as a nondisclosure agreement prohibiting Twitter from disclosing the search warrant. The filing says the court "found probable cause to search the Twitter account for evidence of criminal offenses."

Smith has charged Trump, in an indictment unsealed last week, with conspiring to subvert the will of voters and cling to power after he lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden. Trump, a Republican, has pleaded not guilty to charges including conspiracy to defraud the United States and obstruction of Congress' certification of Biden's win.

Also Read | Down With Cancer, 10-Year-Old Girl 'Marries' Childhood Sweetheart 12 Days Before Dying of Leukemia in US.

Trump says he is innocent and has portrayed the investigation as political motivated. His legal team has indicated it will argue that Trump was relying on the advice of lawyers around him in 2020 and had the right to challenge an election he believed was rigged.

Trump's campaign did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment.

A spokesman for the special counsel's office declined to comment on the warrant or what exactly it sought. (AP)

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)