Trump's chief White House photographer Shealah Craighead notified his aides that she intended to publish a book of the pictures taken during his administration. Nothing unusual here -- Obama and George W. Bush even wrote the forewords for their photographer's books. But I'm guessing neither of them asked for a cut of the profits! Via the New York Times:
First, aides to Mr. Trump asked her for a cut of her book advance payment, in exchange for his writing a foreword and helping promote the book, according to former associates of Mr. Trump.
Then Mr. Trump’s team asked Ms. Craighead to hold off on her book project to allow the former president to take Ms. Craighead’s photos and those of other White House staff photographers and publish his own book, which is now selling for as much as $230 a copy.
Ha, ha! Lie down with dogs, rise up with fleas!
Taylor Budowich, a spokesman for Mr. Trump, did not dispute that an aide had discussed the possibility of Mr. Trump writing a foreword for Ms. Craighead’s book and perhaps taking a cut of her advance. Her tentative deal with a publisher involved an advance in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, one industry executive said.
Instead, Mr. Budowich said, Mr. Trump decided to first do his own book, a separate deal that came with a much bigger, multimillion-dollar advance.
“President Trump has always had an eye for beautiful and engaging curation, which came alive through the pages of his book,” he said in a statement.
The White House photographer is a public employee and the pictures are always in the public domain. But Trump had to grab them first, thus undercutting the potential market value of Craighead's book deal.
What a moneygrubbing worm.
