Elon Musk reinstates Donald Trump on Twitter, but former president pours doubt on return

Elon Musk announced on Saturday night that he would reinstate Donald Trump's account on Twitter. The Twitter CEO made the announcement following an online poll that the billionaire posted to the social media platform.

After being banned from Twitter nearly two years ago, Trump will be permitted to reclaim his popular and effective Twitter account.

Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken. Trump will be reinstated. Vox Populi, Vox Dei."

"Vox Populi, Vox Dei" is a Latin phrase meaning "the voice of the people is the voice of God."

Musk made the decision to reinstate Trump after a 24-hour Twitter poll resulted in 51.8% of users voting "Yes" to reinstate Trump versus 48.2% of users saying to permanently ban the former president of the United States. More than 15 million Twitter users voted in Musk's poll.

Trump was banned from Twitter in January 2021. Twitter declared that Trump was permanently suspended from Twitter "due to the risk of further incitement of violence" surrounding the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol building.

However, Trump gave the impression earlier in the day that he was unlikely to return to Twitter even if he was reinstated.

Trump made a video appearance at the Republican Jewish Coalition meeting in Las Vegas on Saturday.

When asked about returning to Twitter, Trump stated, "I don’t see it because I don’t see any reason for it."

Trump said he'll "be staying" on his Truth Social platform.

He noted that there are "a lot of problems at Twitter."

Trump said he "likes" Musk personally, and he approves of Musk's purchase of Twitter.

Trump said of Musk, "He's a character. I tend to like characters. He's smart."

Trump believed that engagement on Truth Social is "much better " than Twitter.

Glenn Beck interviewed Trump on Election Day and asked if he plans to return to Twitter.

"You know, I have something that I think you're familiar with," Trump told Beck. "I have something called 'Truth [Social],' and Truth has been amazing. Actually, I like it better ... and I own Truth also, to be honest with you. So, it's become quite valuable. We have, you know, millions of people on there — millions — and it's gaining rapidly."

On Friday, Musk reinstated the Twitter accounts of Babylon Bee, Jordan Peterson, and Kathy Griffin.

This is a breaking news story and will be updated with any new details.