Emily Elconin and Alex Wong/Getty Images
- Trump claimed that Mark Zuckerberg told him there's "no way I can vote for a Democrat."
- He said that Zuckerberg made the remarks in a phone call after his assassination attempt.
- A Meta spokesman said that's not true, and that Zuckerberg isn't endorsing anyone.
Former President Donald Trump strongly implied that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg would be voting for him in the 2024 election.
In an interview with New York Magazine published Monday, Trump said that Zuckerberg made the remarks in a phone call after a gunman tried to assassinate Trump at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
"Mark Zuckerberg called up and said, 'I've never supported a Republican before, but there's no way I can vote for a Democrat in this election,'" Trump told the outlet.
"He's a guy that, his parents, everybody was always Democrat. He said, 'I will never vote for the people running against you after watching what you did,'" Trump continued. "So I mean, people really appreciated it."
A Meta spokesperson said that wasn't true — and that Zuckerberg won't be endorsing Trump or his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, this year.
"As Mark has said publicly, he's not endorsing anybody in this race and has not communicated to anybody how he intends to vote," the spokesperson told the outlet.
However, Zuckerberg has offered some praise for Trump's reaction to the assassination attempt, calling it "badass" in a July interview.
"On a personal note, seeing Donald Trump get up after getting shot in the face and pump his fist in the air with the American flag is one of the most badass things I've ever seen in my life," Zuckerberg said at the time. "And I think, look: On some level as an American, it's, like, hard to not get kind of emotional about that spirit and that fight, and I think that that's why a lot of people like the guy."
In that same July interview, Zuckerberg said he would refrain from "endorsing either of the candidates."
Trump and Zuckerberg have long had a complicated relationship. In a forthcoming book, Trump wrote that the Meta CEO would "spend the rest of his life in prison" if he "does anything illegal" in the upcoming election.
He has also railed against Zuckerberg and Meta for suspending his Facebook account after the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.