The Japan Times - Trump to publish letters from the rich and famous

"Letters to Trump" captures "incredible, and oftentimes private" correspondence between the former US president and world leaders, media personalities, athletes and captains of industry, according to Winning Team Publishing.

Due for release next month, the book spans four decades of correspondence, revealing that Winfrey told the now-76-year-old Republican leader back in 2000: "Too bad we're not running for office. What a team!"

The TV mogul had written to Trump -- who is running to be the next president -- after he sent her an excerpt from his book "The America We Deserve," in which he said she would be his ideal vice president.

Winfrey, 69, reportedly tells Trump his comments made her "a little weepy," according to US politics website Axios.

"It's one thing to try and live a life of integrity -- still another to have people like yourself notice," she reportedly gushes.

Each letter is accompanied by commentary from Trump, who writes that he considers Winfrey "amazing," according to Axios, but complains that "she never spoke to me again" once he announced his bid for the White House in 2015.

Many of the missives, hand-picked by the billionaire, come from fellow media personalities at a time when he cut a more glamorous, less divisive figure as a property magnate and reality TV star in Manhattan.

Others are from political heavyweights such as Nixon, Democratic Party grandee Hillary Clinton and North Korea's Kim, the publisher said in a statement.

Trump's exchanges with Kim famously prompted the ex-president to tell a rally in one of his more eccentric moments that he and the authoritarian leader "fell in love."

Kim's messages were among a cache of confidential government papers found in Trump's Florida mansion last year that he is accused of misappropriating from the White House.

"Letters from Trump" -- retailing at a whopping $99, or $399 for a signed copy -- comes out on April 25.

Last year Winning Team Publishing, co-founded by Trump's eldest son Donald Trump Jr, released the Republican firebrand's coffee-table photo book, "Our Journey Together," which chalked some $20 million in sales.

K.Okada--JT