Bush in talks with Amazon about e-book about his e-mails

By Ed O'Keefe March 8 at 2:07 PM

Jeb Bushat a Pizza Ranch restaurant in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on Saturday. (Daniel Acker/Bloomberg News)

Jeb Bush is in discussions with e-commerce giant Amazon.com for the company to serve as the primary outlet for his forthcoming book on his time as Florida governor, according to aides familiar with the talks.

Bush has already published the first chapter of his book on a personal Web site, http://ift.tt/173ndcd , and is in the process of completing the rest of the book, which mixes a narrative about his time as governor with the self-selected verbatim publication of e-mails to and from him, his aides and constituents.

"It’s fair to say we’d be looking at [Amazon] for the distribution venue for the e-book," said one aide familiar with Bush's plans who asked for anonymity to speak frankly about an upcoming business transaction. "This would be a natural venue for it."

Amazon's CEO and founder, Jeffrey P. Bezos, is also the owner of The Washington Post.

Aides said that Bush's camp initiated talks with Amazon about the agreement. They added that his plans for a fuller book do not mean that Bush will opt to publish any e-mails from his account of a more personal or political nature. To date, the only e-mails he has released pertain to his official duties -- and put him in compliance with Florida open-records laws.

An Amazon media representative didn't immediately return requests for comment.

In recent days, Bush and his presidential-campaign-in-waiting have sought to use the controversy surrounding Hillary Rodham Clinton's use of private e-mails when she served as secretary of state to their advantage. Bush called her decision to do so " jeb@jeb.org.

But Bush's e-mail dump includes only self-selected messages that he was required to release in compliance with Florida public-records laws. The Web site housing his e-mails doesn't include any correspondence related to his political activities, or any between him and his family or friends.

Regardless, Bush aides argue that he has already gone beyond what Clinton and his potential GOP rivals for president have done or are willing to do on transparency.

News of Bush's forthcoming deal was first reported by the National Journal's Ron Fournier during an appearance on CNN's "Inside Politics" on Sunday morning.

Ed O’Keefe is covering the 2016 presidential campaign, with a focus on Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio. He's covered presidential and congressional politics since 2008. Off the trail, he's covered Capitol Hill, federal agencies and the federal workforce, and spent a brief time covering the war in Iraq.