President Donald Trump had a room filled with MAGA merch next to the Oval Office, new book says

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President Donald Trump had a room filled with MAGA merch next to the Oval Office, new book says
Former President Donald Trump, left, holding and wearing MAGA hats. On the right is an exterior shot of the White House.Getty Images
  • Former President Donald Trump had a room in the White House filled with MAGA merch, a new book says.
  • Democratic Gov. Phil Murphy was invited to view the room in 2020, he told the authors of "This Will Not Pass."
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Former President Donald Trump had a "stash room" filled with MAGA merch next to his office in the White House, according to a new book, HuffPost reported.

The room, containing campaign memorabilia, was adjacent to the Oval Office, according to "This Will Not Pass,"— an upcoming book by The New York Times reporters Jonathan Martin and Alexander Burns.

Trump sometimes showed governors visiting the White House during his presidency the room, the book said, per The Hill.

New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, a Democrat, said he was taken aback when Trump offered to show him the merch-filled room in 2020, in the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Hill reported.

"They literally hand you a shopping bag, and you took anything you'd like," Murphy told the authors of "This Will Not Pass," according to The Hill.

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Insider reached out to Trump's post-presidency office for comment but did not immediately receive a response.

Trump's most iconic piece of merch, the red MAGA hat, reportedly brought in millions for his political operation.

His reelection campaign manager Brad Parscale told CBS News, per Newsweek, that the hats had brought in close to $45 million and one million sales by April 2019.

Trump's merch collection, which includes everything from mugs to Christmas ornaments, has often represented a blurring of lines between his business interests and political operation, The New York Times reported in February.

That melding of his interests has, recently, been evident when his political operation promoted his $75 picture book, the newspaper said, and official emails to former campaign supporters advertised his hotels.

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His for-profit official retail website, The Trump Store, regularly markets items to supporters of his 2020 reelection campaign through email lists rented from his political operation, The Times reported.

During his presidency, the Independent reported in 2019, government ethics experts accused Trump of being unethical by personally profiting from his office by using The Trump Store to sell White House-branded merchandise.

Personal profiteering from his name and position as the president of the United States was "bizarre and wrong," government ethics expert Jessica Tillipman of George Washington University's Law School told the Independent in 2019.

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