According to Donald Trump’s latest financial disclosures, the Trump campaign spent more than $50,000 at a Barnes and Noble bookstore. Sounds unlikely—Donald Trump reading?—until you consider this Daily Beast report indicating the money went toward purchasing full-price copies of his book Crippled America: How to Make America Great Again.
An unidentified spokesperson for the Trump campaign confirmed to the website the candidate had purchased a bulk order of his own books “as part of gifting at the convention, which we have to do.” The books were apparently part of a gift bag given to delegates that also contained Kleenex and a plastic fetus.
But this seems to be one situation where Trump won’t be able to write off a gift to himself: Paul Ryan tells the Daily Beast it would be a violation of campaign finance law for Trump to receive any royalties from the purchase. And Ryan should know—in 2014 the FEC issued a letter advising Ryan that his campaign could buy copies of his books as long as he didn’t make money off it.
Sad for Trump, who paid full-price for the books only to line Barnes and Nobles’ pockets. On the bright side, a bunch of delegates have hundreds of sheets of free toilet paper.