Spitballing here, but for the interpreting-as-a-threat thing he could double-down on the misunderstanding claim -- it sounds like the CEO wasn't actually on tha

Spitballing here, but for the interpreting-as-a-threat thing he could double-down on the misunderstanding claim -- it sounds like the CEO wasn't actually on that call, so he can throw an unnamed underling under the bus for how it was represented to him, and backpedal on the specific accusation while trying to still convey the vibe that he thinks Apollo was being unreasonable.