Anonymous Trump book with scathing claims sets record for preorders
A tell-all book by an anonymous author about Donald Trump's presidency is not even out yet and is already setting records, according to the book's publisher.
The book, titled "A Warning," is set to be released on Nov. 19. The publisher, Twelve Books, said the author's identity will remain a secret and that the book picks up "where those first words of warning left off" in the explosive op-ed in the New York Times penned last year by the purported senior Trump administration official.
"Twelve is proud to announce that to-date, 'A Warning' has garnered more preorders than any other nonfiction book at any imprint in the history of Hachette Book Group," Paul Samuelson, Twelve's publicity director, wrote in a statement.
Twelve is an imprint of Grand Central Publishing/Hachette Book Group. The book will be published in English, French, German, Bulgarian, Lithuanian, Dutch and Arabic.
Samuelson said that to meet demand, the publisher has gone to print three times, and there are 500,000 copies ready to go into circulation.
“We are very proud to publish this historic book that is already breaking records before its release," Twelve’s publisher Sean Desmond said in a statement. "I think readers will find 'A Warning' to be a fascinating, detailed account.”
The author is described as a senior official in the Trump administration.
The Washington Post, which obtained an early copy, says the book "paints a chilling portrait of the president as cruel, inept and a danger to the nation he was elected to lead," and depicts him "making misogynistic and racist comments behind the scenes."
The writer also says Trump is unfit for office and that colleagues considered mass resignations and the 25th Amendment to try and remove him.
White House officials are pushing back against the book's claims, emphasizing the fact that the author has chosen to remain in the shadows.
"The coward who wrote this book didn’t put their name on it because it is nothing but lies," said White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham. "Real authors reach out to their subjects to get things fact checked – but this person is in hiding, making that very basic part of being a real writer impossible."
The Department of Justice sent a letter to the publishers, claiming the author may be violating "one or more nondisclosure agreements."
The publisher and the author's agents are rejecting the argument and defended the official, calling the move an attempt to “intimidate" them.
Twelve combated the DOJ's letter last week, saying they are "not party to any nondisclosure agreements with the U.S. government that would require any pre-publication review of this book” and reiterated that they “made a commitment of confidentiality to Anonymous and we intend to honor that commitment."
Contributing: Savannah Behrmann, David Jackson
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: 'A Warning': Anonymous Trump book sets record for preorders
