Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg congratulated Donald Trump for being 'number one on Facebook', according to Donald Trump
- President Trump has claimed Mark Zuckerberg told him he was "number one on Facebook" when the two "had dinner the other day."
- Trump dialled into conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh's eponymous radio show on Monday, where he discussed his social media reach, as well as the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani, who he described as "a terrorist."
- Zuckerberg and Trump have met on multiple occasions previously, both publicly and privately. The Facebook CEO refused to reveal details of a dinner he had with Trump in October while he was in Washington, D.C. for a congressional hearing.
- It's not clear what Trump (or Zuckerberg, putatively) meant by "number one on Facebook," but Trump doesn't come close to having either the most likes or the most followers on the platform.
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Donald Trump claims Mark Zuckerberg told him he was "number one on Facebook" at a recent dinner between the pair.
Trump made the claim on Monday on conservative pundit Rush Limbaugh's self-titled radio show, where the pair discussed a variety of topics, including Trump's social media reach.
"'[Zuckerberg] said 'I'd like to congratulate you,' in front of a large group of people. So I'm not… But he said, 'I'd like to congratulate you, you're number one on Facebook,'" Trump claimed, referring to an unspecified dinner the pair had "the other day."
It's not clear what Trump (or Zuckerberg, putatively) meant by "number one on Facebook," but Trump doesn't come close to having either the most likes or the most followers on the platform. A
t the time of writing, Trump's verified personal Facebook page has 25.2 million likes and 26.7 million followers, while his verified presidential Facebook page has 2.9 million likes and 5.2 million followers.
By comparison, the verified personal page of Facebook's most-followed person - the soccer star Cristiano Ronaldo - has 122.2 million likes and 123.2 million followers.
It's possible the dinner Trump refers to took place at The White House in October when Zuckerberg was in Washington D.C. for a congressional hearing regarding the Libra cryptocurrency. The dinner's occurrence remained a secret until November, when Facebook confirmed it to NBC News.
When "This Morning" cohost Gayle King asked him in December about what he discussed with Trump at that dinner, Zuckerberg was remarkably vague. He said only that "we talked about a number of things that were on his mind, and some of the topics that you read about in the news around our work." He also denied that Trump lobbied him.
During his interview with Limbaugh, Trump also defended the assassination of Iranian general Qasem Soleimani. "He was their real military leader. He's a terrorist. He was designated a terrorist by President Obama and then Obama did nothing about it," Trump said.