Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk has denied that Trump encouraged him to buy Twitter, saying that he had no communication with the former U.S. President in the lead-up to the $44 billion offer. Musk’s denial comes a couple of days after Truth Social CEO and former Republican Congressman Devin Nunes claimed that Donald Trump not only fully supports Elon Musk’s Twitter acquisition but encouraged the billionaire to make an offer for the micro-blogging platform.

Nunes’ claim came several days after the Twitter board accepted Musk’s $44 billion offer to buy the company outright. However, the deal was preceded by the high drama that saw the company adopting a so-called ‘poison pill’ strategy to thwart the hostile takeover attempt. Despite the teething troubles, the board members eventually accepted the offer after the billionaire businessman laid out a plan to finance the buyout with bank loans and personal equity that is expected to involve the sale of his Tesla shares.

Related: Can Musk Pull Out Of The Twitter Deal? More Importantly, Should He?

Elon Musk has categorically denied that Donald Trump had encouraged him in any way to buy Twitter. Responding to Devin Nunes’ claim that Trump was instrumental in getting Musk to make the $44 billion offer, the billionaire said, “This is false.” He went on to add that he had “no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump” before making his $44 billion offer to buy Twitter. Musk also pointed out that Trump recently said that he does not plan on rejoining Twitter even if his account is reinstated following the takeover.

Did Trump Ask Musk To Buy Twitter?

Twitter logo on iPhone 11

In an interview with Fox Business earlier in the week, Nunes claimed that Donald Trump fully supports Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover. According to Nunes, the former U.S. President believes that Musk’s Twitter acquisition will help the American people get their voice back and help open up the internet. He also claimed that Trump told Musk to “go and buy it” before the billionaire put in his offer for Twitter. Nunes added that Truth Social, as a company, was also supportive of the deal. Truth Social launched on Apple‘s App Store in February and is expected to be available on the web by the end of this month.

Many Republicans and right-wing commentators have been unhappy with Twitter’s moderation of policies that aim to prevent misinformation, conspiracy theories, harassment and violent threats. Musk has also often railed against those policies, accusing the company of preventing free speech and open debate on the platform. Given Musk’s stance on content moderation, not everybody is happy with the deal, with many expressing anguish that Musk’s acquisition will only make those problems worse. One such Musk critic is Bill Gates, who recently told The Wall Street Journal that Elon Musk’s free-speech absolutism could exacerbate the existing issues on Twitter.