Elon Musk: No Twitter takeover with Trump

Elon Musk rejected claims that former President Donald Trump influenced his decision to buy Twitter by the CEO of his app, Truth Social.

“This is false. I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social,” Musk tweeted on Friday, replying to the New York Post’s coverage.

This is false. I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) May 6, 2022

Devin Nunes, CEO of Truth Social’s parent, Trump Media & Technology Group, claimed on Fox Business Wednesday that Trump played a role in Musk’s purchase of his own social media platform.

“President Trump, basically before Elon Musk bought it, actually said to go and buy it because the goal of our company is really to build a community where people are in a family-friendly, safe environment,” Nunez said during his appearance.

“That’s why we encouraged Elon Musk to buy it, because someone has to take on these tech tyrants,” Nunes continued.

“Donald Trump wanted to make sure that the American people got their voice back and that the internet was open and that’s what we are doing.”

Nunes was a Congressman from 2003 to 2022 before retiring to helm Trump’s media company. He had made statements supporting Musk’s purchase of Twitter to “reopen free speech” but criticized him for buying “a platform that is full of thousands of people that clearly don't like Republicans and are very hardcore left-wing."

Musk has previously sniped at Truth Social, saying the name was “terrible” and suggested it should be renamed “Trumpet.”

Some speculated that Musk would unban Trump after purchasing Twitter, but the former President declared he had no interest in returning. Truth Social became the top free app on the Apple App Store after Musk bought Twitter.