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Trump doing multiple interviews to promote his presidency in wave of post-White House books

‘Donald doesn’t believe in the concept of ‘no comment,’’ says former official

Gino Spocchia
Thursday 18 March 2021 05:55 EDT
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Donald Trump will allegedly sit down with multiple authors in the coming weeks, as the former US president sets-about promoting his time at the White House.

The meetings are with authors and reporters who previously covered Mr Trump while in office. Some of the twelve scheduled interviews, according to Politico, have already taken place.

Among those faces is “Fire and Fury” author Michael Wolff, whose 2018 book about Mr Trump’s White House was rubbished by the former president as being “really boring and untruthful”.

According to Politico, a whole series of sequels could be in the pipeline, raising concerns among advisers of Mr Trump that the market will be flooded with books about his time in office.

And in the process, the former president could ruin any chance of his own to make money from his own recollections — although no post-White House memoir is thought to be in the works at present.

Jason Miller, a senior adviser to Mr Trump, told Politico: “We are not discussing particulars of any individual book interviews that president Trump is giving, but it’s safe to say that he remains the hottest name in politics, and he’s the interview that everyone wants.”

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“We’re tracking nearly three dozen post-presidency books where he will be the star,” said Mr Miller of Mr Trump, who has sought to remain relevant after leaving office.

Although Mr Trump sat down for dozens of interviews while in office, he went on to denounce many titles — including “Fire and Fury” — which he viewed as being written from an outsider’s point of view.

“It’s important for him to control his own narrative and utilise these mediums to share his thoughts and correct the record,” said a former Trump aide to Politico.

“Donald doesn’t believe in the concept of ‘no comment,’” former White House official and author Omarosa Manigault Newman added.

“So it’s not surprising to me that every one of these book interviews he’s going to sit through and think he has the power to manipulate the authors and try to influence them.”

Advisers will reportedly sit-in with the former president for the interviews, according to Politico.

It follows Mr Trump’s admission to veteran Washington Post reporter and author Bob Woodward in February 2020, when he said he publicly downplayed the threat of Covid-19 to avoid a“panic”.

Mr Woodward’s book on the Trump White House, “Rage”, went on to sell 600,000 copies in its first week.

The Independent has approached Mr Trump’s officer for further comment.

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