Twitter's lawyers say Elon Musk wanted out of the deal because of 'World War 3,' not bots

The legal battle with Musk is being complicated by the complaint from the former head of security. Lawyers representing Musk and Twitter met in court Tuesday for a hearing that will determine if the claims made by Zatko can be added to Musk's legal case to get out of his $44 billion commitment to buyTwitter.

The hearing was one of the first times a representative from the social media site addressed Zatko's complaint. Since Zatko went public, the substance of the claims has not been brought to the attention of the social media site.

During the hearing, the lawyers for the company portrayed Zatko as a disgruntled employee, saying that he had a huge ax to grind, and that he wasn't in charge of the company's reputation. He was accused of tying his whistle blower complaint to the merger agreement. Zatko didn't go public in order to benefit Musk, according to his lawyers. The lawyers for the company didn't address claims that the company's security practices may have harmed national security or that the CEO ordered Zatko to lie to the company board.

Musk might have been looking for reasons to kill the deal before Zatko made his complaint. The lawyer quoted from a May 3rd text message Musk sent to his bank.

It won't make sense to buy Twitter if we're headed into World War 3 according to the lawyer for the company. This is the reason why Mr. Musk didn't want to buy Twitter.

Musk's lawyers claimed that Zatko had once been offered a position as a US government official. They denied that Musk had anything to do with Zatko's complaint. It's not clear whether it will sway the judge in the case. The judge commented on Muskwaiving due diligence before agreeing to the acquisition.

Musk's lawyer said "Why didn't we discover this in diligence?" That's why they hid it. The judge said they wouldn't know. The diligence didn't take place.

Musk's lawyers argued that "it's not us causing this chaos or this delay."

In an apparent reference to a May 16th message from Musk, he said that nobody at the company was having any hands on meetings today. A senior decorated executive at the company said that the company was committing fraud. Is that our fault? Is that our chaotic? That is their chaotic behavior.