President Trump implied that he would run for president again — or reclaim the White House through some other unspecified means — in a statement released after Facebook announced that he will be banned from the platform for at least another two years.
“Next time I’m in the White House there will be no more dinners, at his request, with Mark Zuckerberg and his wife. It will be all business!” Trump said in a statement.
Trump’s comments come after multiple outlets, including National Review, reported that the former president believes — and has told advisors and conservative journalists — that he will somehow be reinstated to the presidency sometime in August.
Facebook announced on Friday that it would suspend Trump’s account for at least two years, following an initial suspension in the wake of the January 6 Capitol riot.
“At the end of this period, if we determine that there is still a serious risk to public safety, we will extend the restriction for a set period of time and continue to re-evaluate until that risk has receded,” the company said in a statement.
During the riot, supporters of the former president breached the Capitol and forced lawmakers to evacuate to secure locations, delaying the certification of the Electoral College results. Vice President Mike Pence said on Thursday that he and Trump may never “see eye to eye” regarding the riots.
“As I said that night, January 6 was a dark day in the history of the United States of America,” Pence told attendees at a local Republican meeting in New Hampshire. “You know, President Trump and I have spoken many times since he left office, and I don’t know if we’ll ever see eye to eye on that day. But I will always be proud of what we accomplished for the American people of the last four years.”