The Mueller Report Hasn’t Been Released. But It’s Already a Best-Selling Book
When will the Mueller Report be released? There is no set date for Special Counsel Robert Mueller's historic report to be released, nor is there any guarantee that the report will actually be made public.
But that hasn't stopped book publishers from listing copies of Mueller's report — focused on Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign — for sale if and when it is released. Right now, Amazon has two listings for the Mueller Report available for pre-order.
The Mueller Report: The Final Report of the Special Counsel into Donald Trump, Russia, and Collusion, featuring Robert S. Mueller III as author and a special introduction by Fox News contributor and Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz, is listed at a pre-order price of $9.40 for the paperback (a discount off the $12.99 list price), or $7.99 for the Kindle version.
Even though there have been no official announcements regarding a Mueller Report release date or even a confirmation that the report will be released publicly, the Amazon listing states that this book will be 960 pages long and have a publication date of March 26, 2019. The book is already ranked as the number one best-seller in Amazon's Political Corruption & Misconduct category. The publisher listed for this book, Skyhorse, has not returned request for comment.
Another publisher, the Simon and Schuster imprint Scribner, is also planning on publishing a book version of the Mueller Report. "We will publish in full whatever is made public," a Scribner representative told Publishers Weekly. "We will then expect to release an e-book within 2-3 days and a paperback edition within 5-8 days."
The Scribner version, titled The Mueller Report, will feature additional reporting and commentary by Washington Post reporters, and is currently listed on Amazon for pre-order at a price of $10.28 for paperback and $7.99 for the Kindle version. It also has an alleged publication date of March 26, 2019.
Barnes and Noble is also listing the Skyhorse and Scribner editions available for pre-order, in paperback or electronic Nook Book.
But how can the Mueller Report be sold in the first place? This actually isn't that unusual. In general, copyright law says that most reports made and released publicly by the federal government are considered in the public domain. As such, these reports can be republished and sold by anyone. So, if the Mueller Report is released — and that is still a big "if" at this point, as much is unknown — publishers should indeed be allowed to create and sell their own versions of it.
Customers at Amazon and Barnes and Noble won't be charged for pre-ordering The Mueller Report until books are actually shipped. If the report is never released and books are never published or shipped, the pre-orders are cancelled, and no one is charged. Customers can generally cancel pre-orders before they're shipped without paying any fees as well, if they so choose.
Alan Dershowitz told the Boston Globe this week that he is fully on board to write an intro to the Skyhorse edition of The Mueller Report, though he admitted he hadn't written a word yet. “My intention is to drop everything” when any parts of the Mueller Report are released, Dershowitz said to the Globe. “I’m a fast reader, and a fast writer. Even though I’m 80 years old, I still do things quickly.”
As for the supposed publication date of March 26, it appears to be wishful thinking. No one knows if or when the Mueller Report will be released, and it looks like the publishers chose a random date to entice customers to pre-order their books — which might never become reality.