Trump says he's 'very happy Twitter is now in sane hands' after Elon Musk's takeover

Former President Donald Trump said Friday he is “very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands” after Elon Musk’s $44 billion deal to take over the company officially closed overnight.

But Trump — who was permanently banned by Twitter for what the company described as his role in inciting violence during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol — made no mention of rejoining the platform even if his account were to be reinstated, insisting that he plans to stick with his fledgling social media network, Truth Social.

“TRUTH SOCIAL has become somewhat of a phenomena. Last week it had bigger numbers than all other platforms, including TikTok, Twitter, Facebook, and the rest,” Trump claimed in a Truth Social post. “It also looks and works better to my eye.”

Musk, who is expected to become Twitter’s CEO, has said he would reverse Trump’s lifetime ban.

“I am very happy that Twitter is now in sane hands, and will no longer be run by Radical Left Lunatics and Maniacs that truly hate our country,” Trump continued. “Twitter must now work hard to rid itself of all of the bots and fake accounts that have hurt it so badly. It will be much smaller, but better. I LOVE TRUTH!”

After Musk’s purchase of Twitter closed late Thursday, the Tesla and SpaceX founder promptly fired several longtime top Twitter executives, including CEO Parag Agrawal, CFO Ned Segal and Vijaya Gadde, head of legal policy, trust and safety for the platform.

At 11:49 p.m. ET, Musk tweeted: “the bird is freed.”

In a subsequent interview with Fox News Digital, Trump declined to say whether he would ever rejoin Twitter.

“I am staying on Truth,” he said. “I like it better, I like the way it works, I like Elon, but I’m staying on Truth.”

“I don’t think Twitter can be successful without me,” Trump added. “I made Twitter hot 12 years ago, I made Twitter hot. And then when they terminated [me], it became cold, and that’s what happened.”

In a follow-up tweet on Friday afternoon, Musk said that the company "will be forming a content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints" and that "no major content decisions or account reinstatements will happen before that council convenes."