Former President Donald Trump returned to the social media site X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday with a post that showed his mug shot from his booking at Fulton County Jail in Georgia earlier in the day.
With his post appealing for donations, Trump regained direct access to the public on the platform, which had banned him on January 6, 2021 after his supporters attacked Congress.
On November 19 the San Francisco-based app reversed its position under billionaire Elon Musk, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” who bought Twitter on October 2.
Trump, who had more than 88 million followers when Twitter banned him, posted a photo of the mug shot on Thursday with the words: “Election interference! Never surrender!” The post was viewed over 14 million times 50 minutes after it went live.
Twitter permanently suspended Trump’s account in January 2021, citing the risk of violence and incitement following the attack on the US Capitol.
He used Twitter and other social media platforms to claim that his defeat in the 2020 election was due to widespread voter fraud and to share other conspiracy theories.
On November 15, Trump launched a bid to retake the White House in 2024.
On Wednesday, Trump opted out of a Republican primary debate on Fox News, drawing millions of viewers who watched — or at least scrolled by — a rival interview on X.
The 46-minute conversation with conservative commentator Tucker Carlson had been viewed nearly 250 million times as of Thursday night, according to the site’s data.
On Thursday evening, Trump broke his vow that he would stick exclusively to his new platform, Truth Social, an app developed by his Trump Media & Technology Group (TMTG) startup. As of Thursday, Trump had 6.4 million followers on Truth Social.
Truth Social has been Trump’s main source of direct communication with his followers since he began posting regularly on the app in May. The former president has used Truth Social to promote his allies, criticize his opponents, and protect his reputation amid legal scrutiny from state, congressional and federal investigators.
A year ago, TMTG announced a deal to go public by merging with Digital World Acquisition Corp. (DWAC), a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC). The deal — which would have provided TMTG with $1.3 billion in cash — is now in doubt amid investigations by the Justice Department and the SEC, which have delayed its closing.
Trump’s company faces a critical deadline when DWAC shareholders have until Sept. 5, 10 a.m. ET, to vote for an extension of time for DWAC to complete its merger with TMTG. If the DWAC does not receive the votes, the SPAC will expire on September 8.
Trump sued Twitter in 2021 over his suspension from the platform, arguing that the move violated his right to free speech under the First Amendment of the US Constitution.
A US judge in California dismissed the case, and a federal appeals court in Pasadena, California, is set to take up the dispute on October 4. Trump’s lawyers have stated that his claims are still viable, and the ruling may be upheld by an appeals court, despite his reinstatement on the stage.
