Nunes says he doesn’t expect Trump to return to Twitter after Musk purchase

Former Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), the CEO of former President Trump’s Truth Social, told Fox Business Network on Monday that the 45th president will not return to Twitter, from which he was banned after the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

When asked by Fox Business Network host Maria Bartiromo if Trump will go back on the platform if it is acquired by Elon Musk, Nunes said that “he really doesn’t have an interest in going on Twitter.”

His statements came just hours before Twitter reached a deal with Musk to purchase the company for around $44 billion in cash.

Nunes added that “until you get in there and get that company and wipe out everything that’s been happening there for the last several years … Twitter right now is nothing but a PR wire.”

He added that while it has a global footprint, there’s just “nobody there.”

“I am not going on Twitter, I am going to stay on Truth,” Trump, who was permanently suspended from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat following the Capitol riot, told Fox News on Monday.

“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 added.

Trump’s office did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

Nunes also told Bartiromo, “How do you explain how we have more engagement on Truth Social than they have on Twitter?” However, his statement could not be verified.

He added, “We have very good video, very good photos, the media that we have is extremely good on Truth Social and it’s going to keep getting better.”

Nunes said the app was “taking the best of all these social media platforms, putting them to one, inviting people on and not censoring them.” He added, “That’s the key to Truth Social, and that’s why you see every single hour we’re letting more and more people on, and people are just coming in droves.”

According to estimates shared with The Hill by Sensor Tower on Monday, Truth Social has seen approximately 1.4 million installs from the App Store to date.

The app saw an uptick in installs this past weekend, reaching more than 60,000 installs on Saturday and Sunday combined. This, according to Sensor Tower, was six times the 10,000 installs the app saw in the previous weekend, from April 16 to April 17.

“This uptick was also the most daily installs the app has seen since the end of February after its launch,” it added. 

The app was released in the Apple app store on Feb. 20. It was the most downloaded free app in the Apple app store initially, but within just 20 days fell down to number 116. As of Monday, it is now ranked number 52 on the list, according to AppFigures.com.

It added, “Unfortunately, we can’t speak to how many users have signed up for Truth Social — our download estimates are unique first-time installs of the app, whereas it’s possible that users could use multiple email addresses to sign up for the service.”