Elon Musk on Friday denied a report that Donald Trump encouraged him to buy Twitter despite the fact that it would put him in competition with the former president's social media platform, Truth Social.
Musk's comments came after the New York Post late Thursday reported that Devin Nunes, the CEO of Truth Social, said in a televised interview that the former president quietly "encouraged” Musk to take over Twitter.
"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," said Nunes, a former House GOP lawmaker.
"This is false," Musk wrote Friday in a tweet that included a link to the Post report. "I've had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social."
Musk reached agreement in late April to purchase Twitter for about $44 billion.
The Hill noted Trump had previously praised Musk’s move, saying: "I hope Elon buys Twitter because he’ll make improvements to it, and he is a good man."