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PresidentDonald Trumpwants Democrats to pay a little less attention to him — and a little more attention to the various deals former PresidentBarack Obamahas inked since leaving office.
Trump, 73, lashed out at the House Judiciary Committee in a Twitter spree on Monday, and once again urged them to investigate the book and Netflix deals Obama has signed, both of which are reported to have price tags in the millions.
“House Judiciary has given up on the Mueller Report, sadly for them after two years and $40,000,000 spent – ZERO COLLUSION, ZERO OBSTRUCTION. So they say, OK, lets look at everything else, and all of the deals that ‘Trump’ has done over his lifetime. But it doesn’t work that way,” he began.
“Good idea, except I will, and have always expected to, lose BILLIONS of DOLLARS for the privilege of being your President – and doing the best job that has been done in many decades,” Trumpwrote. “I am far beyond somebody paying for a hotel room for the evening, or filling up a gas tank at an airport I do not own. These Radical Left Democrats are CRAZY! Obama Netflix.”
Mr. Obama, 58, and his wife, former First LadyMichelle Obama, 55, signed a deal in 2017 torelease their memoirswith Penguin Random House, an agreement worth a reported $65 million.
Mr. Obama followed the lead of fellow former presidents likeBill ClintonandGeorge W. Bush, who have published memoirs after leaving the White House, and the publishing company said at the time that a “significant portion” of the authors’ profits would be donated to charity.
Mrs. Obama’s book,Becoming, soldnearly 10 million copiesupon its release last fall, making it one of, it not the, most successful memoir in history, Thomas Rabe, head of one of Penguin’s parent companies, told theWall Street Journal.
Trump previously called for a probe into the book deal in July, saying, “We want to find out what happened with the last Democrat president. Let’s look into Obama, the way they’ve looked at me … They could look into the book deal that President Obama made.”
Meanwhile, the Obamas alsoannounced a production deal with Netflixin 2018, in which their newly-created Higher Ground production company would create content for the streaming service.
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Netflix did not disclose the terms of the agreement, though similar deals with celebrities have been worth millions; producer Ryan Murphy, for example, is said to have pulled in $300 million with his latest Netflix deal, according toThe Hollywood Reporter.
Trump’s Twitter boast that the presidency is costing him billions is also not the first time he’s made such a claim; in August, he twice said that being in office was costing him between $3 and $5 billion, first during avisit to a Shell petrochemical plantin Pennsylvania, and again at theG7 summitin France.
As for his references to gas tanks, airports, and hotel rooms, those likely come from recent reports that the House Oversight and Reform Committee has been looking into his dealings with the Glasgow Prestwick Airport in Scotland, which is located near Trump’s golf resort in Turnberry.
The New York Timesrecently reported that Trump’s administration has used the airport to refuel Air Force flights, and local airport authority has been tasked with helping find accommodations for flight crews staying overnight.
source: people.com
