Parler allegedly offered Trump organization a 40% stake in the post of then-president.

Parler, the social network popular with members of the far right, was well aware that then-President Donald Trump as a user would do wonders for his popularity. And it was ready to enchant him with a strategy that appealed to the president, who often pointed to his supposed ability to close business deals. As part of the talks to make Parler Trump’s primary social network, the company eventually offered a 40% stake in the company to the Trump organization, BuzzFeed News reported. As part of the deal, Trump would commit to putting everything on Parler first and waiting at least four hours before posting it on any other platform.

It’s unclear how much the former president got involved in the negotiations, but the report by BuzzFeed makes it clear that these were not one-off, informal talks. Talks between the Trump Organization and Parler began last summer. Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale seems to have played a key role as he considered creating an account for the president on the site back in 2019. Parscale was the one working with Alex Cannon, a campaign lawyer, later met with Parler CEO John. Matze and two shareholders to discuss the idea. Matze said earlier this week he was fired from the company.

As soon as the negotiations were heard, the White House office immediately played the brakes and warned that any agreement would violate the ethical rules. But the talks resumed after Trump lost re-election. All the talks apparently stopped after the riot in Capitol and both Google and Apple removed Parler from their app stores. It was later taken offline when Amazon decided to stop offering it. Parscale told BuzzFeed that Trump “was never part of the discussions” and that they were “never so substantial.” “Still, some experts say at least that the mere negotiation and subsequent offer would justify an investigation.” While President Trump boasted at the time that ethical rules did not apply to him, bribery laws do apply, and courts have ruled that Trump ‘s posts on social media were an official matter while he was in office, “said Scott Amey, general manager of the project,” on government oversight, a watchdog group.

Last month, Matze told the court that Trump was considering creating an account on Parler under the pseudonym ‘Person X’. Matze claims Amazon Web Services was aware of the possibility and discontinued the site as a way to deny Trump a social media platform. Amazon denied the allegations, saying the suspension “had nothing to do with politics.”