There’s a report out today that cites Truth Social’s CEO as having told Fox Business that Trump encouraged Elon Musk to buy Twitter.
Via the New York Post:
Donald Trump quietly “encouraged” Elon Musk’s takeover of social media giant Twitter ahead of the $44 billion deal, according to the boss of his own social-media app Truth Social.
“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,” Devin Nunes said during an appearance on Fox Business Network.
Nunes, a former House GOP lawmaker who is CEO of Trump Media & Technology Group, added that Truth Social was “all for it.”
Truth Social executives have portrayed the platform as social media alternative for conservatives who felt they were being censored on mainstream Big Tech platforms. Musk’s pledge to re-center Twitter with a focus on free speech is a likely setback for Truth Social and other right-leaning upstarts.
“That’s why we encouraged Elon Musk to buy it, because someone has to take on these tech tyrants,” Nunes said during an appearance on Fox Business Network. “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.”
“People like Elon Musk doing what he’s doing, we’re definitely in favor of it,” he added.
But Elon Musk says this simply isn’t true, that he’s not been in any contact whatsoever with Trump:
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
I didn’t see the interview, but from the quotes it sounds like Nunes might have been talking a bit more in the ‘abstract’ when he said Trump ‘encouraged’ Musk and the NY Post made it sound like more than what it was.