Reinstate Trump? Musk starts poll

WASHINGTON/SAN FRANCISCO: Just hours after saying he had not yet decided on whether to lift the Twitter ban on Donald Trump, the social network’s new owner Elon Musk asked users to vote on reinstating the former president to the platform.

“Reinstate former President Trump,” the billionaire Twitter owner posted, with a chance to vote either yes or no.

As of about 8:30pm on Saturday, 52.3% of nearly 11 million responses were in favour of a return of the former president, who was banned from Twitter for his role in last year’s attack on the US Capitol by a mob of his followers seeking to overturn the results of the 2020 election.

There was no indication that the mercurial boss of Space-x and Tesla would adhere to the results of the ad hoc poll. He has done similar polls in the past, asking followers last year if he should sell stock in his electric car company Tesla. Following that poll, he sold more than $1 billion in shares.

Trump has said he will not return to Twitter but would instead remain on his own network, Truth Social, launched after he was banned.

Justice dept names spl counsel in Trump probes

The US justice department on Friday named Jack Smith, a former war crimes investigator, as a special counsel to oversee criminal probes into Donald Trump, three days after the former president announced a new White House run in 2024. Trump slammed the dramatic move as “unfair” and “the worst politicisation of justice in our country”.