'Never Surrender': Donald Trump Posts On X For the First Time Since 2021

Former US President Donald Trump has posted for the first time on X, formerly known as Twitter, since the final days of his term in office.

In his first post on X nearly after 2 years, Trump shared a link to his website along with a picture of his mug shot, marking his reentry into the platform after his Twitter account was banned following the U.S. Capitol riot on January 6, 2021. Beneath the mug shot, the caption declared, "Never surrender!"

The day following his interview with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who now streams his talk shows on the service, Trump made his return to X. Notably, this interview coincided with the debut debate of other Republican presidential contenders on Wednesday night.

Upon Twitter's suspension of Trump's account, the company cited his posts that seemed to glorify violence and urge his supporters to storm the Capitol. However, Elon Musk, a self-proclaimed advocate for unrestricted free speech, who acquired the social network for USD 44 billion in October and subsequently renamed it, expressed that the decision to bar Trump was an error. Musk reinstated Trump's account in November, although it remained inactive until now.

Trump and 18 others were indicted last week, accused of participating in a sprawling conspiracy to overturn his presidential election loss to Democrat Joe Biden. The Fulton County prosecution is the fourth criminal case against Trump since March, when he became the first former president in U.S. history to be indicted.

Trump's surrender, coming amid an abrupt shake-up of his legal team, follows the presidential debate in Milwaukee the night before featuring his leading rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination - a contest in which he remains the leading candidate despite accelerating legal troubles. His Atlanta appearance will be different from others, though, requiring him to surrender at a problem-plagued jail - but without an accompanying court appearance for now. Unlike in other cities that did not require him to pose for a mug shot, Fulton County officials have said they expect to take a booking photo like they would for any other defendant.