The Republican National Committee paid more than $ 300,000 in October to a company owned by Donald Trump Jr. to purchase copies of his new self-published book.
Autographed copies of the book, Liberal privilege, were distributed to donors who have contributed between $ 50 and $ 100 to the RNC, according to a source close to the arrangement. The source said the promotion raised substantial sums for Republicans in the home stretch of the election.
The RNC payment – $ 303,892.47 on Oct. 28 – did not go directly to Trump Jr. but to a company called Pursuit Venture LLC. Company records for Delaware, where the company was formed in late 2018, show the president’s eldest son as its principal. The RNC payment has been dubbed “donor memories”.
It is common for political groups to buy books written by prominent officials and give them as gifts for their financial backers, and GOP committees have purchased books for their donor promotions this year that have been written by people unrelated to the president, including Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Fox News host Sean Hannity.
But the RNC’s payment to Trump Jr.’s company in October was the largest one-time payment – out of more than 700 – the committee has ever reported for “keepsakes” or “gifts” from donors, according to documents filed by the Federal Election Commission.
It was also more than three times what the RNC would have paid to acquire copies of Trump Jr.’s previous book, Sets off. The committee said at the time that its fundraising promotions using this book brought in over half a million dollars, which was a substantial fundraising benefit for National Republicans.
There is also an advantage for the author. The wholesale purchase of books by a political committee like the RNC means that the overall sales of the book become artificially inflated. This, in turn, can help a book’s reputation by raising it on the bestseller lists.
Trump Jr.’s debut book was, indeed, a number one New York Times bestseller, and its second effort topped the charts on Amazon soon after its publication – and before RNC’s wholesale purchase. Unlike his first book, published by Hachette, Trump Jr. decided to self-publish Liberal privilege—As a “stroke of the bow” of the publishing industry, he said. Axios. Self-publishing usually means that an author doesn’t get a head start on the book, but they pocket a much higher percentage of sales.
FEC records show that the RNC was not the only one to bombard Trump Jr.’s latest book Pursuit Venture also received a payment of $ 11,000 in early October from Rep. Matt’s re-election campaign. Gaetz (R-FL). Payment for purposes was listed as “gifts of support”.
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