Former President Donald Trump railed against Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg in his upcoming book, accusing the tech tycoon of undermining him in the last election and warning of possible jail time.
Trump, 78, recounted meeting with Zuckerberg, 40, and seethed over the 2020 election in his upcoming book “Save America,” set to hit bookshelves on Sept. 3.
“We are watching him closely, 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,” Trump wrote in the book, per a preview obtained by Politico.
The 45th president has lashed out at the Meta chief executive repeatedly in the past. Earlier this year he bucked his own party and expressed support for TikTok, warning, “If you get rid of TikTok, Facebook and Zuckerschmuck will double their business.”
Congress later passed a bipartisan bill to compel TikTok’s parent company ByteDance to divest from the popular video-sharing platform or face a ban from the top app stores. That legislation came in response to national security concerns.
Underpinning Trump’s warming up to TikTok was lobbying from GOP megadonor Jeff Yass, as The Post has previously reported.
Last month, Trump fumed at Zuckerberg in a Truth Social screed, saying, “ELECTION FRAUDSTERS at levels never seen before, and they will be sent to prison for long periods of time. We already know who you are. DON’T DO IT! ZUCKERBUCKS, be careful.”
“Zuckerbucks” is a reference to the roughly $420 million that Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan donated to help state and local governments conduct their elections during the COVID-19 pandemic.
He has since indicated that he has no plans to make similar donations ahead of the Nov. 5 presidential election.
“They were designed to be nonpartisan — spread across urban, rural, and suburban communities,” Zuckerberg wrote in a recent letter to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio).
“Still, despite the analyses I’ve seen showing otherwise, I know that some people believe this work benefited one party over the other,” he added. “My goal is to be neutral and not play a role one way or another — or to even appear to be playing a role. So I don’t plan on making a similar contribution this cycle.”
Republicans have long scrutinized Meta, blasting it for initially suppressing The Post’s bombshell story about then-future first son Hunter Biden’s laptop and its alleged coordination with the administration to throttle certain COVID-19 content.
“I believe the government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,” Zuckerberg wrote in his recent letter to Jordan. “I also think we made some choices that, with the benefit of hindsight and new information, we wouldn’t make today.”
Jordan also chairs the House subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which has had Meta and other Big Tech firms in its crosshairs.
“Like I said to our teams at the time, I feel strongly that we should not compromise our content standards due to pressure from any Administration in either direction — and we’re ready to push back if something like this happens again,” he wrote.
Meta booted Trump from Facebook and Instagram following his actions revolving around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot. Trump was reinstated early last year.
During his social media exile, Trump formed a new platform, Truth Social, where he has unleashed his unvarnished thoughts into cyberspace. Trump has also begun upping the tempo of his posts on X.
In his upcoming book, Trump also recounted in a photo caption how Zuckerberg “would come to the Oval Office to see me. 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,” per Politico.
“He told me there was nobody like Trump on Facebook. But at the same time, and for whatever reason, steered it against me.”
The Post contacted Meta for comment.
