Trump wanted to give West Bank to Jordan's King Abdullah, new book claims

Former US President Donald Trump offered Jordan's King Abdullah II control over the occupied Palestinian West Bank, a new book has claimed, in a secretive deal that shocked the monarch.

In January 2018, Trump offered the "great deal" to King Abdullah without being aware of the strong political consequences the move would have on the region, according to The Divider: Trump in the White House, 2017-2021.

The book is written by Peter Baker, chief White House correspondent for The New York Times, and Susan Glasser, staff writer for The New Yorker.

"I thought I was having a heart attack," Abdullah said to an American friend in 2018, according to The Washington Post's excerpts of the book. "I couldn't breathe. I was bent doubled-over."

Trump made the offer thinking it would be a favourable gesture to the Jordanian monarch but in reality the US president had no power or legal basis to carry out a transfer of Israeli-occupied Palestinian land.

It is unclear if Israel or the Palestinian Authority were aware of the offer.

The book also revealed that the president of the World Jewish Congress had urged Trump to buy Greenland from Denmark.

Ronald Lauder, 78-year-old president of the World Jewish Congress and heir to the Estee Lauder cosmetics empire, encouraged Trump to buy Greenland before the issue became public.

Trump reportedly told his national security advisor that "a friend of mine, a really, really experienced businessman, thinks we can get Greenland" at the time, leading to a study of the territory.

Denmark slammed the proposed deal, saying Greenland was not for sale.

Husband and wife journalist duo Baker and Glasser say their upcoming book is based on reporting they did for the outlets they work for, "as well as about 300 original interviews conducted exclusively for this book".

"We obtained private diaries, memos, contemporaneous notes, emails, text messages, and other documents that shed new light on Trump's time in office," they said.