How Trump Ripped Off The Official WH Photographer

The New York Times reports:

Official photographers from every White House since President Ronald Reagan’s have published their own books. Barack Obama and George W. Bush were so supportive that they wrote forewords for them.

But like so much else involving Mr. Trump, the plan by his chief photographer, Shealah Craighead, did not follow this bipartisan norm. 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.

Read the full article.

NEW: Trump’s White House glossy, photo book, which has earned him millions of dollars, preempted a book that his own chief White House photographer had been planning. with @maggieNYT https://t.co/FxeuY2rdJI

— Eric Lipton (@EricLiptonNYT) March 31, 2022