Amazon is in Sen. Ted Cruz’s corner for his fight with The New York Times over books sales.
Mr. Cruz contends that sales for “A Time for Truth” should have landed his book at the No. 3 slot for The Times’ bestseller list. His presidential campaign also charges the newspaper with “lying” when it says he tried to game the system with bulk purchases. The online retail giant appears to agree with Mr. Cruz.
“As of yesterday, ‘A Time for Truth’ was the number 13 best-selling book, and there is no evidence of unusual bulk purchase activity in our sales data,” Sarah Gelman, Amazon’s director of press relations, told Politico via email on Monday.
“A Time for Truth” reportedly sold 11,854 copies in its first in its first week.
“Their decision to blackball Cruz’s book suggests that the Times very much does not want people to read the book,” the Cruz campaign said in statement last Thursday.
The newspaper stuck by its decision on Monday.
SEE ALSO: Ted Cruz demands NY Times apologize for ‘lying’ about ‘A Time for Truth’ sales
“I can’t speak to the statements by Amazon or Harper Collins — though obviously publishers are always trying to get their authors on our list — but we are confident in our conclusion about the sales patterns for the Cruz book for the week in question,” Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy told CNN.
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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