Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was notably absent from Donald Trump’s much-hyped “Tech Summit” on Wednesday after the social network reneged on a $5 million emoji deal with Donald Trump’s campaign, The Hill reports.
The Washington website says a “source familiar with the situation” said Republican National Committee Chief Strategist and Communications Director Sean Spicer booted Twitter from the meeting in retaliation for backing out of the agreement.
Spicer the report, telling The Hill that he “had absolutely nothing to do with this meeting.” Ironically, he continued to deny the reports on Twitter, calling the allegations “another example of false, reprehensible, pathetic, tabloid faux journalism.”
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In October, the Washington Examiner reported that Dorsey scrapped the emoji deal, citing legal issues. One problem involved an emoji that included the hashtag #CROOKEDHILLARY beside a bag of money. Twitter reportedly argued the emoji did not make it clear that it came from the Trump campaign.
According to The Hill, Trump’s campaign was hoping to debut the emojis in time for the Oct. 9 presidential debate.
As TheWrap previously reported, top execs from the world’s biggest tech companies like Amazon, Apple, Google parent Alphabet, Facebook and Microsoft — many of whom actively supported Democrat Hillary Clinton during the campaign — were invited to Trump Tower.
Later on Wednesday, Spicer skirted a question about Dorsey during a CNN interview.
“This is an initial list of people who got together who wanted to sit down with Mr. Trump, talk about his general take, his vision, how what they are doing in Silicon Valley, in technology, could fit into that,” Spicer said, adding that Dorsey might be considered for “follow-up meetings.”
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The New York Times reports Trump met the Tech titans with an “effusive greeting.”
“This is a truly amazing group of people,” the Times reported Trump as saying. “I won’t tell you the hundreds of calls we’ve had asking to come to this meeting.” Trump also promised to “help you folks do well.”
Among those in attendance: Amazon’s Jeff Bezos; Tesla’s Elon Musk; Apple’s Tim Cook; Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg; Alphabet’s Larry Page; and Microsoft’s Satya Nadella.
The Times also noted that Trump was seated next to tech billionaire Peter Thiel, who is a member of the Trump transition team. Three of Trump’s children also attended.
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