Donald Trump Headed Back to Twitter? Digital World Acquisition Corp., the SPAC company that was set to merge with the company that owns former President Trump’s Truth Social, has admitted to accounting errors.
Donald Trump’s social media company Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, was set to merge with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC) called Digital World Acquisition Corp. But the merger has been delayed repeatedly, and the SPAC company now says its previous financial statement had errors and can no longer be relied upon, Forbes reported this week.
According to a filing Wednesday with the SEC, DWAC has received a letter from the Listing Qualifications Department of The Nasdaq Stock Market “stating that the Company is not in compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rule 5250(c)(1) because it has not yet filed its Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the period ended March 31, 2023.”
The company also said its previous report can “no longer be relied upon,”
Forbes reported that the company has admitted that it “made accounting errors in its last financial report, adding to financial reporting issues that have threatened to delist the company from Nasdaq.” This is in addition to the two investigations of the deal already in progress, including one reportedly into money laundering.
The Washington Post reported earlier this month that a “porn-friendly bank” could end up with a stake in Trump’s media company. That institution, ES Family Trust, has not had its potential role disclosed to the SEC or shareholders.
Documents provided to the newspaper by Will Wilkerson, a whistleblower inside the company, showed that financial tie.
“This is definitely something that could cause problems,” Michael Ohlrogge, an NYU law professor and SPAC expert, said of the loan. “At a minimum, if the SEC knew about this loan, it would insist that it be disclosed to [Digital World] shareholders. … And the company didn’t even do that.”
Trump has continued to post to Truth Social regularly, including numerous negative reactions to the botched campaign announcement by his primary rival Gov. Ron DeSantis.
With DeSantis making his announcement on Trump’s old stomping grounds of Twitter, botched as it was, speculation has reigned over whether the former president might return to Twitter. Elon Musk reinstated Trump’s account last year after a nearly two-year banishment, but Trump has not resumed posting to the platform, even after a series of media reports in January that the former president was preparing such a move.
One would think that Trump would resist coming back to Twitter and provide a gift of engagement and attention to Elon Musk, shortly after Musk himself hosted DeSantis for his campaign launch.
But on Thursday, conservative social media personality Benny Johnson said on a Twitter Space he had “confirmed” that Trump plans to return to Twitter. But it’s not clear when that would happen, and Johnson is not the most reliable of sources.
One report stated that Trump’s agreement to post exclusively on Truth Social expires in June, although Trump’s exclusivity on that platform is essentially the only thing that confers any value on Truth Social.
Trump didn’t seem shy about mocking Elon Musk in his reaction to the DeSantis launch, posting a video of a rocket collapsing and comparing it to DeSantis’ launch, and also posting a bizarre parody of the Twitter Space, featuring voices imitating DeSantis, Musk, George Soros, World Economic Forum Chairman Klaus Schwab, Adolf Hitler, and “The FBI.”
Trump had said last November, shortly after he announced his candidacy for president in 2024, that he wasn’t interested in coming back to Twitter.
“I don’t see any reason for it, they have a lot of problems at Twitter, you see what’s going on. It may make it, it may not make it,” Trump said at the time, per The Hill. “Vote now with positivity, but don’t worry, we aren’t going anywhere. Truth Social is special!”
Expertise and Experience: Stephen Silver is a Senior Editor for 19FortyFive. He is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, who is also a contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. Follow him on Twitter at @StephenSilver.
