April 27, 2022: -On Tuesday, Donald Trump told CNBC he wouldn’t return to Twitter even if Elon Musk, the incoming owner of the company, reversed the former president’s ban. “No, I won’t be going back on Twitter,” Trump told CNBC, Joe Kernen.

“I will be on Truth Social within the week. It’s on schedule. We have a lot of people signed up. I like Elon Musk. I like him a lot. He’s an excellent individual. We did a lot for Twitter when I was in the White House. I was disappointed by the way I was treated on Twitter. I won’t be going back on Twitter,” he said.

Twitter suspended Trump from the platform in January 2021 following the attack by his supporters on the U.S. Capitol. The company said it decided after the January 6 riot “due to the risk of further incitement of violence.” Trump had over 80 million followers on the platform.

Questions over whether Trump would be allowed back on Twitter arose after Musk announced he was interested in acquiring the company in part to make it a platform for free speech.

“It’s just essential that people have both the reality and the perception that they can speak freely within the bounds of the law,” Musk said during a recent TED interview. Musk added he is not a fan of permanent bans, favoring suspensions. The CEO of both Tesla and SpaceX has often used Twitter to crack jokes and promote his business interests, from his companies to cryptocurrencies he’s eyeing.

Trump has posted once on Truth Social, billed as a free-speech alternative to Big Tech platforms. It comes under the former president’s Trump Media & Technology Group, poised to merge with Digital World Acquisition Corp. Shares in the stock plunged almost 13% after Twitter announced it accepted Musk’s offer to take the company private.