Talking reportedly offered the Trump Organization a 40% stake in the then president’s post.

Speak, the social network popular among members of the far right, was well aware that having then-President Donald Trump as a user was going to do wonders for its popularity. And he was ready to woo him with a strategy that appealed to the president who often touted his supposed ability to make trade deals. As part of negotiations to create Talk Trump’s main social network, the company ended up offering the Trump organization a 40% stake in the company, BuzzFeed News reports. As part of the deal, Trump would commit to post everything on Speak First and wait at least four hours before posting it on another platform.

It’s unclear how involved the former president got into the negotiations, but BuzzFeed reports make it clear that these were not one-off, casual conversations. Discussions between the Trump organization and Parler began last summer. It appears that former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale played a key role, as he had considered setting up an account for the president on the site as early as 2019. Parscale was the one who, along with campaign lawyer Alex Cannon, later met with Parler CEO John Matze and two shareholders to discuss the idea. Matze said earlier this week that he was fired from the company.

As soon as it learned of the negotiations, the White House council office immediately put the brakes on the talks, warning that any deal would violate ethical rules. But talks resumed after Trump lost his re-election. All talk apparently came to a halt after the Capitol Riot, and Google and Apple pulled Talking from their app stores. It was then taken offline when Amazon decided to no longer host it. Parscale told BuzzFeed that Trump “has never been part of the talks” and that they “have never been more important.” Still, some experts say at least the mere negotiations and the subsequent offer would warrant an investigation. “While then President Trump bragged that ethics rules did not apply to him, corruption laws do apply, and courts have ruled that Trump’s social media posts were a formal matter while he was in office, ”said Scott Amey, general counsel for the project. on government surveillance, a watchdog group.

Last month, Matze said in a court filing that Trump had considered setting up an account on Speaking under the pseudonym “Person X.” Matze claimed that Amazon Web Services was aware of the possibility and stopped hosting the site in order to deny Trump a social media platform. Amazon denied the allegation, insisting the suspension “had nothing to do with politics.”