Elon Musk outrightly refuted on Friday an allegation made by the president of ex-President Donald Trump‘s new social media firm that Trump pushed Musk’s bid to buy Twitter.

“This is false,” Musk responded through Twitter to a New York Post piece regarding Trump Media & Technology Group CEO Devin Nunes’ claim.

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“I’ve had no communication, directly or indirectly, with Trump, who has publicly stated that he will be exclusively on Truth Social,” Musk, the CEO of Tesla and SpaceX, wrote.

“President Trump, basically before Elon Musk bought it, actually said to go and buy it because you know the goal of our company is really to build a community where people are in a family-friendly, safe environment,” Nunes, a former Republican congressman from California, remarked.

Twitter banned Trump, an obsessive user of the platform, in January 2021 for the “risk of further incitement of violence,” according to the firm.

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The restriction came after a disturbance in the Capitol on January 6, 2021, by a crowd of Trump supporters who disrupted the certification of President Joe Biden’s victory.

Last October, Trump revealed intentions to start Truth Social as a Twitter competitor, and said his social media company would go public through a deal with the so-called blank-check company Digital World Acquisition.

On April 25, Twitter accepted Musk’s offer to buy the company, which is subject to shareholder and regulatory approval.

A federal judge in California dismissed Trump’s petition seeking to lift the ban on his Twitter account on Friday.

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The judge said that the suit’s claim that Twitter “censored” Trump in violation of his free speech rights was insufficient, because the First Amendment prohibits government organisations, not private firms, from interfering with what citizens say.

“The amended complaint does not plausibly allege a First Amendment claim against Twitter,” in a ruling dismissing the lawsuit, US District Court Judge James Donato stated.

“The TOS (terms of service) gave Twitter contractual permission to act as it saw fit with respect to any account or content for any or no reason,” the ruling added.