Donald Trump is 'being offered book and TV deals worth $100M' as part of 'Plan B' if election legal war fails to secure second term
Donald Trump is being offered book and TV deals worth around $100 million as part of a 'plan B' if his election legal battle fails to secure him a second term, according to a source close to the president.
The source told Page Six Tuesday the president is being 'bombarded' with lucrative book deal offers about his time in the White House as well as offers from right-wing TV outlets.
'Book and TV deals are plan-B if he doesn't win the vote war,' the source said.
'Translate 70 million votes into viewers and record book sales. All the anti-Trump books have made big bucks, so this from the Donald is a surefire hit.'
This comes as Trump refuses to concede to Joe Biden, three days after the election was called for the Democrat, and continues to make unsubstantiated claims about widespread voter fraud.
Donald Trump (pictured Thursday) is being offered book and TV deals worth around $100 million as part of a 'plan B' if his election legal battle fails to secure him a second term, according to a source close to the president
Trump already has a large array of around 19 books in his portfolio, from business advice books such as 'Think Big and Kick Ass' to a golf book called 'Trump: The Best Golf Advice I Ever Received'.
His latest book - Crippled America - was published by Simon & Schuster in 2015, one year before he won the 2016 election.
In 2018 he boasted on Twitter he had 'written many best selling books'.
Former White House inhabitants often secure big-figure deals to give readers a behind the scenes look at life in the seat of government.
Former-President Barack Obama and Former First Lady Michelle Obama are rumored to have bagged a $65 million deal with Crown in 2017, with Barack's latest book 'A Promised Land' due to hit shelves next week.
However, a book insider told Page Six the $100 million price tags for Trump 'don't sound accurate'.
While no publishers have confirmed they are in talks with Trump for a book on his time in office, the insider cited Simon & Schuster as 'one publisher to watch' due to its work with Trump in the past and the top boss's personal association with him.
'They published [Trump's] last book. CEO Jonathan Karp published several of his books there, and at Random House, and went to Trump's wedding to Melania,' they told Page Six.
However, as well as working with Trump in the past, Simon & Schuster is also the company behind the explosive tell-all books from former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Trump's niece Mary L. Trump - both of which the president went to court to try to stop being released.
The source told Page Six the president is being 'bombarded' with lucrative book and TV offers about his time in the White House as well as offers from far-right TV outlets. Trump already has 19 books to his name including the latest Crippled America (above) published in 2015
Publisher Center Street, a Hachette Book Group imprint, has previously published Donald Trump Jr., Newt Gingrich and Judge Jeanine Pirro among others in the past.
But several publishers are eyeing up the risks of working with Trump.
Even though other presidents left office highly unpopular, from Jimmy Carter to George W. Bush, and managed to get book deals and release bestsellers, none were as polarizing as Trump or have so many upcoming legal battles.
Trump has a number of pending legal issues including a New York State investigation into his finances, and a defamation lawsuit from E. Jean Carroll, one of more than 20 women who have alleged sexual assault or misconduct by Trump.
Several publishers told the AP they also don't believe Trump will have the same global appeal as Obama.
David Drake, executive vice president and publisher of Crown, which will release Obama's memoir, declined comment to the Associated Press on whether he would acquire a book by Trump or even meet with him.
The executive vice president and publisher of Alfred A. Knopf, Reagan Arthur, doubted she would sign up Trump, but added she would probably agree to meet with him, out of courtesy to a former president.
Former White House inhabitants often secure big-figure book deals. Former-President Barack Obama's latest book 'A Promised Land' (pictured) is due to hit shelves next week but several publishers don't believe Trump will have the same global appeal as Obama
Dana Canedy, senior vice president and publisher of Simon & Schuster's namesake imprint, said any decision to work with Trump or those in his Cabinet would depend on what they were planning to say.
'I would apply the same rigorous approach to any meeting, with anyone, Democratic or Republican,' she said.
'I would have to see whether there's an arc to the story, how deeply reported it would be, and that there would be fact-checking so we could be confident about it.
'And that's whether Joe Biden was coming to me or Donald Trump was coming to me.'
Canedy said she might be interested in a book from Trump about his influence on the Republican Party, which initially resisted his rise in 2016.
She would want Trump, or any author, to be 'fair, balanced and honest,' and have 'a level of insight and self-awareness.'
Simon & Schuster CEO Jonathan Karp went to Trump's wedding to Melania
Asked if she believed Trump could meet those standards, Canedy said: 'I wouldn't know how to answer that, quite honestly, because I would need to see the proposal first.'
Back in July, Canedy said in an interview with the New Yorker it would be 'important' for the president to release 'one or more books' on leaving the White House.
'Oh, he's the President. Everyone who leaves the White House has one or more books in them and that becomes part of public history,' Canedy said at the time.
'I think that would be not only appropriate but important.'
Meanwhile, publishers are also gearing up for numerous books written about the president and his election loss to Biden.
Works already planned include the anti-Trump 'Preventable: The Inside Story of How Leadership Failures, Politics, and Selfishness Doomed the U.S. Coronavirus Response,' by former Obamacare head Andy Slavitt.
There's a campaign book from New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alex Burns in the pipeline and former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale is also reportedly working on a memoir.
'It was a very controversial presidency and the New York publishing world isn't exactly packed with Trump fans,' Matt Latimer of the Javelin literary agency, where clients have included former FBI Director James Comey, former National Security Adviser John Bolton and Fox host Tucker Carlson, told Associated Press.
'But there are tens of millions of Americans who look to the Trump presidency as an important time and are fans of his administration. At least some publishers will recognize that.'
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