Former President Donald Trump posted a photo of his mug shot and a link to his website on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time since his suspension following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
Early Thursday, Trump made history by becoming the first former president to pose for a mugshot after being arrested for trying to overturn Georgia’s 2020 election results.
At 9:38 p.m., just hours after his trial and release from the Fulton County Jail, @RealDonaldTrump tweeted a link to Trump’s website and a photo of his already viral mugshot for the first time in two years.
He captioned the mugshot photo with two statements: “VOCING INTERFERENCE” and “NEVER GIVE UP,” along with another addition to his website address.
Trump also posted the same message on his own Truth Social page, but this is a surprise return to X, which banned the former president under his former name before reinstating him after Elon Musk took over the site.
Former President Donald Trump posted a photo of his mugshot and a link to his website on X, formerly known as Twitter, for the first time since his suspension following the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021.
The tweet comes after Trump praised his own “BLOCKBUSTER” interview with Tucker Carlson on Elon Musk’s “X” platform, which had racked up over 150 million views as of early Thursday morning and stole the spotlight from Fox News’ Republican presidential debate.
The former president’s 45-minute session on X, formerly known as Twitter, aired while his Republican rivals feuded onstage on a crucial night for the 2024 White House election.
The former president boasted about the show’s success in a post on Truth Social Thursday morning: “Tucker Carlson’s interview with me was a BLOCKBUSTER.” Could reach 200,000,000 views and more! Thank you very much! I hope everyone enjoyed it.’
The face-to-face conversation between Trump and Carlson has already eclipsed the most-watched television interview of all time – Oprah and Michael Jackson’s 1993 hit, which has been viewed more than 62 million times. It also surpassed Tucker’s Andrew Tate interview in July, which racked up 107 million views.
Trump is preparing to surrender at a Georgia jail later Thursday on voter fraud allegations and is expected to have a mugshot taken – a historic first for a former president.
Viewership numbers will almost certainly dwarf the number of Americans who tuned in to Fox to watch Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy and the rest of the GOP field go into battle to close the gap on the front runner. However, the million views also included X users who scrolled past the video and did not watch the entire interview.
Trump was asked by interviewer Tucker Carlson if the nation was headed for a “civil war.” He attacked his critics as “savages”, attacked his Republican rivals and Joe Biden and spoke about low-flow showerheads
The site initially suspended Donald Trump’s account for 12 hours before finally issuing the permanent ban after praising the mob that stormed Congress and saying he “loves” them.
One of the deleted tweets said, “These are the things and events that happen when great patriots, who have been treated badly and unfairly for so long, are so unceremoniously and viciously stripped of a holy landslide election victory.” Go with love and in peace home. Remember this day forever!’
In the deleted video, he poured even more fuel on the fire, claiming the election was “stolen” and telling the rioters he “love them”.
Twitter said it removed the tweets for violating its “Civil Integrity Policy.”
“Due to the unprecedented and ongoing situation of violence in Washington, DC, we have requested the removal of three @realDonaldTrump tweets posted today for repeated and serious violations of our Civic Integrity Policy,” the social media company said.
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have already flagged content posted by the president over the past year, particularly his claims about voter fraud and COVID-19.
During the 2020 presidential election, platforms labeled dozens of Trump’s tweets that contained false or misleading claims of voter fraud.
However, this was the first time Twitter had flagged a tweet as “danger of violence.”
In November 2022, after Elon Musk took over the social media giant, he reinstated the account.
An irrepressible tweeter prior to his ban, there were no new tweets from Trump, who used Twitter as his primary means of communication throughout both his presidential bid and his tenure.
His tweets would move the markets, set the news cycle and drive the agenda in Washington.
The controversial decision came just three weeks after Musk acquired the social media company for $44 billion and after conducting a public vote in which 15 million users cast their votes.
After 24 hours of voting, 51.8% of respondents said they wanted Trump back on the manifesto.
Musk tweeted, ‘People have spoken.’ Trump reinstated.’
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk added, a Latin phrase roughly meaning “The voice of the people is the voice of God.”
“Fascinating to see the Twitter Trump poll!” Musk said as early as Saturday morning in a flurry of tweets from the controversial and dogged new owner of the one-to-many messaging platform.
Trump’s Twitter account has been restored but now has just 1 million followers, down from the nearly 90 million he had before his suspension in January 2021
Trump initially said he would not be returning to Twitter, preferring instead to focus on his Truth Social app.
“I see no reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting if he plans to return to Twitter.
“I like him…you know, he’s a character and I like characters,” Trump said of Musk.
“He did a poll and it was very overwhelming…but I have something called…Truth Social.”
Trump said he will stick with his new platform, the app developed by his startup, which he says has better user engagement than Twitter and is doing “phenomenally well.”
But at the time of his suspension, Trump had almost 90 million supporters. When the account was reactivated on Saturday night, all Trump followers had been removed, but the number quickly exceeded one million.
Trump has around 4.57 million followers on his Truth Social platform.
In a tweet, Musk said, “People have spoken. Trump will be reinstated.”
According to the poll, after 24 hours of voting, 51.8% supported Trump’s return to the election manifesto
Truth Social has been Trump’s primary source of direct communication with his supporters since he began posting regularly on the app in May 2022.
After a poll on Saturday night, Elon Musk reinstated Donald Trump on Twitter
He has used Truth Social to promote his allies, criticize opponents, and defend his reputation against the backdrop of legal scrutiny by state, congressional, and federal investigators.
Trump issued a statement on the election and the possibility of reinstatement. “Vote positive now, but don’t worry, we’re not going anywhere,” Trump said. “Truth Social is something special!”
However, his agreement with the company opens the door for Trump to engage extensively on other platforms. According to a May SEC filing, Trump is required to provide Truth Social with a six-hour exclusivity on each post. However, he is free to post “political messages, political fundraisers, or campaigns for voter participation” on any website at any time.
Trump, who campaigned to take back the White House in 2024, praised Musk and said he’s always liked him. But Trump also said that Twitter is suffering from bots and fake accounts and that the problems it is facing are “incredible”.
“They have a lot of problems on Twitter. You see what’s going on. “It may work, it may not, but the problems are incredible,” Trump said.
Musk, the new owner of Twitter, said in May 2022 he would lift the Twitter ban for Trump, whose account was suspended after the January 2020 attack on the US Capitol that he fueled.
Musk had previously attempted to reassure users and advertisers that such a decision would be made in the light of a content moderation council composed of people with “very diverse viewpoints” and that no account recovery would occur until the council convened .
He also said Twitter will not re-enable banned users until there is a “clear process for doing so.”
There is no new information on the process or the moderation council.
A Trump no-show could ease concerns from major advertisers, who are already unnerved by Musk’s drastic transformation of Twitter.
Musk is in the process of a major corporate restructuring, including massive layoffs, but he also seems to have played his part in enjoying his new $44 billion acquisition.
The reinstatement of accounts deleted for violating Twitter content’s moderation rules was seen as an indication of where Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” wants to take the page.
Musk has widely criticized Twitter’s suspension policy and has promised to bring prominent figures back.
He says he will punish people who post hateful things by removing their accounts from view — but won’t ban them outright because he believes strongly in free speech.
Trump traveled to Georgia from his home in Bedminster, New Jersey, on Thursday afternoon to surrender.
Prior to his surrender, Trump labeled Georgia District Attorney Fani Willis a “radical left, low-life district attorney” and posted on Truth Social that his arrest would come at 7:30 p.m. ET.
His surrender came hours after Willis put Trump on trial in Georgia on Oct. 23 and his former chief of staff, Mark Meadows, surrendered to police.
The mug shots of a handful of other Trump allies and “co-conspirators” who were in the Georgia jail this week were also released by the Fulton County Sheriff’s Office. They are accused of joining a Trump-led “conspiracy” to illegally alter the outcome of the election.
“America’s Mayor” Rudy Giuliani faced humiliation having his mugshot taken after he was held in an Atlanta jail on Wednesday.
In the picture, Giuliani can be seen looking straight ahead with a slight frown, industrial lights glow on his forehead and a sheriff’s badge hangs on the wall to his right.
Supporters of Donald Trump, Georgina and Cliff MacMorris, hold flags outside the Fulton County Jail ahead of Trump’s August 24 surrender
A spate of nine Trump allies have already turned themselves in the Georgia jail this week ahead of Friday’s deadline
The former Trump attorney faces 13 felonies, including RICO charges.
It was a stunning and symbolic turn of events for the former mob boss prosecutor, who used the RICO Act to take down the Mafia while serving as a Manhattan district attorney in the 1980s.
Trump criticized his former attorney’s arrest in a Truth Social post following the release of Giuliani’s mugshot.
“The greatest mayor in the history of New York City has just been ARRESTED in Atlanta, Georgia for fighting for election integrity.” HOW SAD FOR OUR COUNTRY. MAGA!’ Trump wrote.