Donald Trump has threatened to imprison Mark Zuckerberg if the Facebook founder does “anything illegal” to influence the upcoming presidential election.
The former president made the claim in a new book, titled Save America, which is a collection of pictures and anecdotes from his presidential campaigns and term in office.
Next to a photograph of him meeting Mr Zuckerberg in the White House, Mr Trump wrote: “He would bring his very nice wife to dinners, be as nice as anyone could be, while always plotting to install shameful Lock Boxes in a true PLOT AGAINST THE PRESIDENT.”
It was a reference to the more than $400m (£303m) Zuckerberg and his wife, Priscilla Chan Zuckerberg, donated to election offices in 2020.
The gifts mostly went to Democratic-leaning counties in some states – partly because Republican politicians rejected the donations as Mr Trump warned against funding election offices so they could instead encourage postal votes during the coronavirus pandemic.
Mark Zuckerberg. Pic: Reuters
Mr Trump and his supporters have repeatedly blamed the donations for contributing to his loss in 2020.
“We are watching him closely,” Mr Trump wrote in his new book, “and if he does anything illegal this time he will spend the rest of his life in prison – as will others who cheat in the 2024 Presidential Election.”
A page from Donald Trump’s book, Save America, shows an Oval Office meeting with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg. Pic: Winning Team Publishing/NBC News
Mr Trump’s third coffee table book also includes pictures of him with world leaders such as North Korea’s Kim Jong Un and Germany’s former chancellor, Angela Merkel.
It also features pictures of the crowds he likes to boast about that gathered in Washington DC to hear his speech ahead of the January 6 attack on the Capitol in 2021.
Meta, Zuckerberg’s renamed company, has yet to comment on the book.
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Save America is scheduled to be released on 3 September and will sell for $99 (£75), with signed copies going for $499 (£379).