Trump news today: Meta to reinstate his Facebook and Instagram as 2024 campaign gears up

Donald Trump has reacted to the news of Meta’s decision to reinstate his Facebook and Instagram accounts by posting on Truth Social, his own platform set up following his ban from mainstream social media.

The former president wrote:

FACEBOOK, which has lost Billions of Dollars in value since “deplatforming” your favorite President, me, has just announced that they are reinstating my account. Such a thing should never again happen to a sitting President, or anybody else who is not deserving of retribution! THANK YOU TO TRUTH SOCIAL FOR DOING SUCH AN INCREDIBLE JOB. YOUR GROWTH IS OUTSTANDING, AND FUTURE UNLIMITED!!!

Mr Trump has 4.84 million followers on Truth Social, whereas he had an audience of approximately 34 million on Facebook and 23 million on Instagram.

Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, announced that it will soon restore the twice-impeached ex-president’s access to their platforms, just over two years after Mr Trump used his social media profiles to incite a violent attack on the US Capitol.

Andrew Feinberg reports on this developing story.

Despite the numerous times Donald Trump has attacked her with racist slurs and accusations, former transportation secretary Elaine Chao has chosen by and large to ignore his insults and rise above them.

However, the former cabinet secretary (and wife of fellow Trump-target Senator Mitch McConnell) has now spoken out to Politico in a statement that “suggests that discomfort with Trump’s anti-Asian rhetoric has reached a new level amid several high-profile shootings targeting Asian Americans”.

“When I was young, some people deliberately misspelled or mispronounced my name. Asian Americans have worked hard to change that experience for the next generation,” Ms Chao said. “He doesn’t seem to understand that, which says a whole lot more about him than it will ever say about Asian Americans.”

The meandering, gripe-filled video (shot in the style of his earlier campaign videos) ends with praise for GOP reps James Comer and Jim Jordan.

The Independent’s Andrew Feinberg reports on the next big assignment for former management consultant Jeff Zients: White House chief of staff.

Texas Senator Ted Cruz is being blasted for his two very different reactions to the discoveries of classified documents at the homes of President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Gustaf Kilander has the story.

Democrats responded with aggrieved fury when former President Donald Trump was found in possession of classified documents that should have been turned over to the government when he left office. Then disclosures that President Joe Biden also mishandled secret papers set loose a Republican “well, what about” roar.

Now, with another discovery of classified documents, this time at the home of Trump’s vice president, Mike Pence, the partisan finger-pointing seems to be melting into a chorus of mortification from Democrats and Republicans.

The highest US secrets, it now appears, are not necessarily safe with the highest officials.

A photo taken during the summer of 2022 shows a grinning former president Donald Trump flashing a thumbs up gesture while posing with John Alite, a podcaster and motivational speaker who was once a hitman for the Gambino crime family.

Alite, who confirmed the authenticity of the photo in a phone interview with The Independent, described himself as a political independent who supported Mr Trump’s push for criminal justice reform, and said his support for the ex-president is well known.

Andrew Feinberg has the story.

House Republicans renewed their investigation Wednesday into the art dealings of Hunter Biden, pushing for details on who is purchasing his work as part of the party’s long-promised probe into President Joe Biden and his family.

Rep. James Comer, new chairman of the House Oversight Committee, asked for a transcribed interview with Georges Bergès, the art dealer who has been showcasing Hunter Biden’s work in New York and Los Angeles galleries since 2021.

He requested communications between the gallery and the White House, citing Republican concerns the younger Biden is trading in on his father’s name.

Donald Trump has hosted the conservative creators of the “Libs of TikTok” and Babylon Bee social media accounts at Mar-a-Lago.

NBC News reports that it is part of a charm offensive by the 2024 Republican presidential candidate, whose campaign has its first event this weekend in South Carolina.

Despite launching in mid-November 2022, the former president’s campaign has been slow to gain any traction or momentum and Mr Trump has barely left his Palm Beach home.

Citing a source with knowledge of the strategy, the network says Trump met with Seth Dillon, founder of the conservative political satire website Babylon Bee, and had dinner with Chaya Raichik, owner of the “Libs of TikTok” Twitter account.

Mr Trump plans to meet with other social media influencers, the source told NBC.

Ms Raichik posted a photo of herself with the former president.