Trump says he won’t return to Twitter but calls Elon Musk ‘a good man’

Former president says he will join his own TRUTH Social within seven days

Graeme Massie
Los Angeles
Monday 25 April 2022 22:10 BST
Comments
Trump Calls Prince Harry an ‘Embarrassment’ and Says He and Meghan Should Lose Royal Titles

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Donald Trump has said he will not return to Twitter following the news that Elon Musk has bought the platform the former president was banned from.

Mr Trump made the announcement that he would not rejoin twitter despite the Tesla boss’s $44bn purchase, and instead said he would use his own platform TRUTH Social.

And he told Fox News on Monday that he would formally join the platform within seven days, as he had planned.

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on TRUTH. I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it and he is a good man, but I am going to be staying on TRUTH,” he said.

The Trump Media & Technology Group social media platform formally launched in March, and after beta-testing has been live on its new cloud services for four days.

“We’re taking in millions of people, and what we’re finding is that the response on TRUTH is much better than being on Twitter,” Mr Trump said. “Twitter has bots and fake accounts, and we are doing everything we can.”

And he added: “The bottom line is, no, I am not going back to Twitter.”

Mr Trump was suspended from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat following the 6 January US Capitol riot, in which his supporters tried to violently prevent the certification of Joe Biden’s election victory.

Mr Musk has made free-speech on Twitter a large part of his takeover bid, leading observers to suggest that he will allow Mr Trump and other banned right-wing figures back onto the platform once he has full control.

He said that he welcomed Mr Musk buying Twitter, but claims it is not a rival to his own operation.

“I think it is good. We want liberty and justice and fairness in our country, and the more we can have open, the better,” Mr Trump said.

“But no, I don’t view that as a competition for what I am doing. This is a platform for my voice. TRUTH is a platform for my voice and for my supporters,” Trump said. “But I want everybody to come over to TRUTH—conservatives, liberals, whatever.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in