Former President Donald Trump’s legal team is reevaluating his lawsuit against Twitter due to Elon Musk’s looming takeover of the social media platform.
John P. Coale, Mr. Trump’s attorney, said he expects to meet with Mr. Musk after the billionaire obtains negotiating power for the company.
“When all of that happens, we expect to sit down with him and talk about the case, see what we can work out,” Mr. Coale said.
Mr. Trump sued Twitter last year alleging a First Amendment violation through online censorship after the platform permanently banned him for his comments following the Jan. 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol.
Dropping the lawsuit is an option that will be on the table, according to Mr. Coale.
Mr. Musk and Mr. Trump, who is backing the startup Truth Social, are now competitors in the social media sector and have traded glancing jabs at the attractiveness of the other’s platform in recent days.
After the announcement of Mr. Musk’s forthcoming Twitter takeover, Mr. Trump said he would not return to Twitter but told Fox News he thought Mr. Musk was a good man. Mr. Trump published a post on his Truth Social platform on Thursday saying, “I’M BACK!”
Truth Social’s app has ranked atop the free app chart in Apple’s App Store this week, which Mr. Musk pointed out on Twitter and noted that Mr. Trump’s service was beating Twitter and TikTok on the chart.
But Mr. Musk also ribbed the Truth Social name on Wednesday and he said it should be called “Trumpet” instead.
“Truth Social (terrible name) exists because Twitter censored free speech,” Mr. Musk said on Twitter.
Twitter’s lawyers from the law firm Wilmer, Cutler, Pickering, Hale and Dorr, responding to Mr. Trump’s lawsuit, referred questions about Mr. Musk’s takeover affecting their litigation to Twitter. The company declined to comment.
Mr. Musk’s lawyers at the law firm Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom working on the Twitter acquisition did not respond to requests for comment.
Mr. Trump’s lawsuit against Twitter is proceeding in federal court in California, and Mr. Coale said he does not anticipate a resolution before Mr. Musk’s takeover is expected to be completed later this year.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled the name of the Truth Social.
• Ryan Lovelace can be reached at rlovelace@washingtontimes.com.
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