NEW YORK, July 11 (UPI) -- Conservative Republican contender Sen. Ted Cruz believes the New York Times is conspiring to keep his new memoir off its renowned bestseller list, as a partisan means to try and limit his reach.
Cruz's book, "A Time for Truth," sold nearly 12,000 copies in its first week of release starting June 30 -- performing better than all but two other books. Still, it did not appear on the Times list.
"The Times is presumably embarrassed by having their obvious partisan bias called out," Cruz campaign spokesman Rick Tyler said in a statement.
The Times said it kept Cruz's book off because it believes the Texas senator attempted to buy his way onto the list, by limiting sales to bulk purchases and inflating sales numbers.
"In the case of this book, the overwhelming preponderance of evidence was that sales were limited to strategic bulk purchases," Times spokeswoman Eileen Murphy said.
"Their response -- alleging 'strategic bulk purchases' – is a blatant falsehood," Tyler said. "The evidence is directly to the contrary. In levelling this false charge, the Times has tried to impugn the integrity of Senator Cruz and of his publisher Harper Collins."
Cruz's camp has called on the Times to publicize the evidence it claims it has.
"We call on the Times, release your so-called 'evidence.' Demonstrate that your charge isn't simply a naked fabrication, designed to cover up your own partisan agenda," Tyler said. "And, if you cannot do so, then issue a public apology to Senator Cruz and Harper Collins editor Adam Bellow for making false charges against them."
Harper Collins, the publisher of the book, said it has looked into the matter and found no evidence to support the Times' claims -- noting that the book appeared on other bestseller lists that excluded bulk sales.
