Ted Cruz’s campaign blasted The New York Times on Friday after it was revealed that the Texas Senator’s new book, “A Time for Truth” would be kept off the bestseller list, despite reported sales putting the book at No. 3 on the list.
The GOP presidential contender’s book reportedly sold 11,854 copies in its first week, more than “all but two of the Times’ bestselling titles,” Politico reported Thursday.
The Cruz campaign released a statement on Thursday titled “New York Times is Lying” and called on the Times to release their evidence for compiling the bestsellers list or issue a formal apology.
“Their decision to blackball Cruz’s book suggests that the Times very much does not want people to read the book,” the statement said.
The Times recently claimed in a statement that they excluded Mr. Cruz’s book because “the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases.”
Mr. Cruz’s campaign responded that this claim was “false, and the Times knows it. There were no ’strategic bulk purchases.”
Mr. Cruz spent last week on a nation-wide book tour, signing copies of his book at multiple locations. Booksellers at each event had long lines—sometimes over 400 people per event,” the statement said.
Campaign spokesman Rick Tyler called on the Times to release evidence proving their claim or “issue a public apology to Senator Cruz and Harper Collins editor Adam Bellow for making false charges against them.”
The Times has not yet responded to the claims.
• Kellan Howell can be reached at khowell@washingtontimes.com.
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