When and where Donald Trump used Twitter while a mob of his supporters stormed the US Capitol on January 6 will be used as key evidence in the former president’s trial on criminal conspiracy charges, according to federal prosecutors.
Monday’s court filing outlining three expert witnesses who are expected to testify at trial include people who work with geolocation data on mobile devices – including phones that belonged to Mr Trump and others at the White House – and who have previously mapped the movement of rioters who breached the Capitol grounds and halls of Congress.
One potential witness “plotted the location history data for Google accounts and devices” among people who joined then-President Trump’s rally at the Ellipse before marching to the Capitol.
Their testimony “will describe and explain the resulting graphical representations of that data, and it will aid the jury in understanding the movements of individuals toward the Capitol area during and after” Mr Trump’s speech that day, according to prosecutors.
Another expert will discuss data that was extracted from White House cell phones, including Mr Trump’s, as well as images on those phones and the websites visited on them, according to prosecutors.
That witness also “identified the periods of time during which the defendant’s phone was unlocked and the Twitter application was open on January 6.”
Monday’s court filing sheds more light on the prosecution strategy from US Department of Justice special counsel Jack Smith and his team.
He has previously indicated in court filings that prosecutors will introduce evidence of Mr Trump’s support for charged and convicted rioters, as well as his embrace of political violence, to bolster arguments that Mr Trump failed to prevent rioters from descending on the Capitol to stop the certification of Joe Biden’s victory in the 2020 presidential election.
Elon Musk’s X platform, formerly Twitter, has also handed over 32 direct messages from Mr Trump’s account to Mr Smith’s team as part of its investigation.
His efforts to reverse his loss in the 2020 election yielded four criminal charges in a 45-page grand jury indictment, alleging a multi-state scheme built on a legacy of lies and conspiracy theories to undermine the democratic process. A trial is tentatively scheduled for March 2024.
Mr Trump was charged with four crimes, including conspiracy to defraud the United States, conspiracy to obstruct an official proceeding, obstruction and attempt to obstruct an official proceeding and conspiracy against rights.
He is separately among more than a dozen defendants in Fulton County, Georgia accused of participating in a “criminal enterprise” to unlawfully overturn the state’s election results.
On Monday, Mr Smith pressed the US Supreme Court to quickly address Mr Trump’s attempts to dismiss the federal case on “presidential immunity” grounds.
Hours after Mr Smith’s request, the justices agreed to expedite the case. Mr Trump has until 4pm on 20 December to respond.
