Trumps Warns Zuckerberg Could ‘Spend The Rest Of His Life In Jail’

Trump accused Zuckerberg of “plotting” against him during the 2020 election by “turning” Facebook against his campaign. Trump warned that if Zuckerberg did this again in the 2024 election, he would “spend the rest of his life in prison.”

The comments come in a new book written by Trump, called Save America. The book features photos from Trump’s tenure with captions describing the events. Trump’s threat against Zuckerberg was in a caption describing a meeting between the two in the Oval Office.

Pages from Trump’s new book where he threatens to jail Mark Zuckerberg for life and has kind words for Kim Jong Un and Putin https://t.co/3bqGCkyUN6 by @katiadoyl pic.twitter.com/S6AC5gC1mX

— Amanda Terkel (@aterkel) August 30, 2024

Trump began by noting that Zuckerberg would visit him in the Oval Office. “He would bring his very pretty wife to dinner, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install disgraceful lockboxes (sic) in a real plot against the president. “

He then accused Zuckerberg of being dishonest by praising him and then turning Facebook against his failed 2020 re-election campaign.

“He told me there is no one like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, and for whatever reason, he turned it against me,” Trump’s caption continues. “We are watching him closely, and if he does anything illegal this time, he will spend the rest of his life in prison, just like others who are cheating in the 2024 presidential election.”

Meta and Winning Team Publishing, the publisher save america, did not respond to a request for comment.

Over the years, Trump has made similar threats to other perceived enemies. During a 2016 election debate, he memorably told former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that he “would be in jail” if elected. Trump’s campaign rallies often featured chants of “shut her up” in reference to Clinton. At another rally in October 2022, Trump advocated jailing a journalist to get him to reveal a source.

There is no evidence that Zuckerberg was involved in a plot against Trump while he was in office. Nor did Trump’s accusations cite any specific laws that Zuckerberg may have violated. The mention of “Lock Boxes” appears to be a reference to a $420 million donation made by Zuckerberg’s charity to fund election infrastructure in 2020.

Trump has repeatedly clashed with Zuckerberg over the years. In July, Trump made the same accusations that Zuckerberg was meddling in the election.

“All I can say is that if I am elected president, we will go after election fraud at levels never seen before and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “We already know who you are. DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, watch out!”

Zuckerberg tried to extend an olive branch to Trump after the failed assassination attempt against him in July, praising his courage. “To see Donald Trump standing up after being shot in the face and holding his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most terrifying things I’ve ever seen in my life,” Zuckerberg said a few days after the shooting.

During an interview with Fox Business, Trump said Zuckerberg called him several times after the assassination attempt, including to tell him he would not endorse a Democrat. Meta noted that he refrained from endorsing either candidate, as he did in previous elections.

Earlier this week, Zuckerberg got more political, writing a letter to the House Judiciary Committee regarding Meta’s handling of government requests for content related to COVID-19 in 2021. Senior officials in the Biden administration “pressured repeated” on Meta to remove some types of COVID-19 Content, “including humor and satire,” according to the letter.

“I think the government pressure was wrong, and I regret not being more honest about it,” Zuckerberg wrote.

In the letter, he also mentioned donations he made that provided things like staffing and training for local poll workers during the 2020 election, which has been severely impacted by the pandemic. In 2020, Zuckerberg’s philanthropic organization that he runs with his wife Priscilla Chan, the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, made donations to the Center for Innovation and Election Research and the Center for Technology and Civic Life.

“We are redoubling our commitment to ensure that every qualified jurisdiction has the resources to enable every eligible citizen to vote safely and have their vote counted,” Chan and Zuckerberg said in a statement at the time of their donation.

The Chan Zuckerberg Initiative did not respond to a request for comment.

The donations drew backlash from conservative groups who mistook them as support for Joe Biden’s candidacy. For this reason, Zuckerberg said he would not make such donations in the 2024 election.

“Despite the analysis I’ve seen to the contrary, I know some people believe this work has benefited one side at the expense of the other,” Zuckerberg wrote. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or the other – or even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t intend to make a similar contribution this cycle.”

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