Former President Donald Trump really wants to tweet again. Trump’s lawyers have asked a federal judge to bring back his Twitter account, according to a court document obtained by CNN.
Within the court filing, Trump’s attorneys state Twitter “exercises a degree of power and control over political discourse in this country that is immeasurable, historically unprecedented, and profoundly dangerous to open democratic debate.”
Two days after the Capitol insurrection occurred on January 6, Twitter published a blog titled “Permanent suspension of @realDonaldTrump.” The social media giant, founded by Jack Dorsey, decided to end the Republican president’s twitter spree “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.”
“In the context of horrific events this week, we made it clear on Wednesday that additional violations of the Twitter Rules would potentially result in this very course of action. Our public interest framework exists to enable the public to hear from elected officials and world leaders directly. It is built on a principle that the people have a right to hold power to account in the open,” Twitter wrote via its blog. “We made it clear going back years that these accounts are not above our rules entirely and cannot use Twitter to incite violence, among other things.”
In February, Twitter’s CFO Ned Segal clarified during an interview on CNBC that Trump’s ban is permanent — even if he wins the presidency again. Trump’s attorneys also filed a lawsuit in July against Twitter, Facebook — where he is currently suspended for two years, and Google.
Besides fighting against censorship, the exact reason why Trump wants to return to Twitter has not been disclosed. However, CNN’s Brian Stelter believes that Trump is suing to get back onto Twitter because Trump believes he needs Twitter in order to run for President in 2024.
“I think when the creators of Twitter launched this social media service 15 or so years ago they wouldn’t have imagined they’d be caught in this type of debate, this kind of argument over whether an ex-U.S. president who was kicked off after inciting a riot should be allowed back on, but there are legal principles at stake and Trump’s lawyers are battling this,” Stelter stated. “This does create a lot of interest among conservatives’ claims of censorship and Trump is continuing to push this in court. Clearly, Donald Trump is running for president again and he believes he needs Twitter in order to do so.”