“I had a great life,great company,great business,no problems,” he said. “It’s vicious,it’s horrible,but you know what? I loved doing it because I helped people.”

Several polls taken since his departure from office show that Trump remains the candidate of choice for a majority of Republican voters.

A February poll by Harvard’s Centre for American Political Studies showed that 52 per cent of Republican voters wanted Trump to be the party’s 2024 nominee,ahead of former vice-president Mike Pence on 18 per cent support and former US ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley on 7 per cent.

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has recently been gaining traction as a potential Republican nominee after the state’s coronavirus death toll remained relatively low despite his fierce opposition to mask mandates and restrictions on businesses.

Trump’s new website includesa page titled “From the Desk of Donald J Trump” that features a Twitter-style feed of brief statements. Social media users can then share these posts to their own Twitter or Facebook pages.

Facebook’s Oversight Board will announce on Thursday (AEDT) whether it will lift its suspension on Trump.

Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said that,following the storming of the Capitol,the risks of allowing Trump to continue posting on the platform were “simply too great”.