Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Issue Statement Congratulating Elon Musk?

Following Elon Musk's $44 billion takeover of Twitter, the question remains whether the SpaceX and Tesla CEO will follow up on his previous promise to allow Donald Trump back on the platform.

The world's richest man has been engaged in a back and forth with Twitter for several months about the takeover before the deal went through on Thursday.

Musk, who wants to make Twitter a "digital town square" with less strict moderation policies, said he intends to scrap Twitter's policy of issuing lifelong bans from the platform as he does not believe in permanent prohibitions, an unnamed source told Bloomberg amid the takeover.

In May, Musk also said that he would "reverse the permanent ban" on Trump in an interview with The Financial Times in May, adding that removing the former president from the platform in the wake of the January 6 attack was a "morally bad decision."

The Claim

Soon after Musk's takeover was complete, a statement purporting to be sent via Trump's Save America Super PAC began circulating on social media.

The screenshoted message (archived here), which claimed to be an official statement from Trump, was congratulating Musk for his takeover on Twitter, while suggesting that the former president may be returning to the platform in the coming days.

"Congratulations to Elon Musk on his purchase of Twitter. Many people are saying that change was needed, as the old management was too concerned with the woke agenda," the statement reads.

"I have been told that my account will be back on and running on Monday—we will see, Happy to be able to engage with an African-American owned business!"

Russian news agency TASS soon pounced on the story, tweeting that that Trump had congratulated Musk and that the former president was informed that his Twitter account would return by October 31.

The screenshot was also posted on Twitter by the Asian News International (ANI)—a media company accused of being a propaganda tool for the Indian government—to its 7.3 million followers.

Another high profile name who shared the message was Dinesh D'Souza, the right-wing conspiracy theorist and director of the 2020 Election documentary 2,000 Mules, who tweeted "Trump weighs in."

The Facts

Trump routinely shares statements and other messages via his Save America Super PAC. They are sent via email to those who subscribe to the former president's updates, with many also posted on the Save America website.

However, Newsweek found no evidence that Trump sent the statement regarding his potential return to Twitter via email, and there is no official record of it existing online.

In an updated tweet sent on Thursday, ANI admitted that the Trump statement was a hoax and deleted their previous post.

"Tweet retracted. No statement from Donald Trump on Elon Musk's takeover of Twitter has been released. This was a fake statement circulating. Error regretted," ANI tweeted.

Tass and D'Souza have also both deleted tweets in which they referenced the fake Save America PAC statement.

Devin Nunes, the CEO of Truth Social—the social network Trump set up after getting banned from Twitter—also shared the screenshot of the statement on his platform while dismissing its authenticity.

"LOL! Left wing desperation for @realDonaldTrump to go back to Titter. #deepfakes #FakeNews," Nunes wrote.

Fabricated "screengrabs" of non-existent Trump posts have been resurfacing regularly on social media, often on the back of significant events and developments.

That includes similarly false claims that Trump announced plans to return to Twitter, as Newsweek Fact Check previously reported.

The Ruling

False.

There is no evidence that Trump issued any statement congratulating Musk while discussing a potential return to Twitter in the wake of the billionaire's takeover.

Those who originally spread the claim based it on what was revealed to be a fabricated image, rather than a link to a website where the full statement could be read, with ADI even deleting their original tweet with the message and admitting it was a hoax.

FACT CHECK BY NEWSWEEK