By Richard Lardner and Dake Kang

As Richard Lardner in Washington started reporting on former President Donald Trump’s for-profit ventures, he got a tip that Trump’s Bibles were printed in China, leading him to a labyrinth of ironies, conflicts of interest and even accusations of blasphemy. 

Teaming up with Beijing’s Dake Kang, the pair verified the tip through interviews with a printing company in China. Based on databases that use customs data to track exports and imports, Lardner and Kang calculated the estimated value of three separate shipments at $342,000, or less than $3 per Bible. The minimum price for the Trump-backed Bible is $59.99, putting the potential sales revenue at about $7 million. 

While it is not news that China is one of the world’s leading producers of Bibles, it may be news to readers that Trump’s administration chose to exempt Bibles from tariffs imposed on billions of dollars of Chinese goods. 

This exclusive story explained how selling products at prices that exceed their value may even be considered a campaign contribution. It also noted that there’s an opportunity for Trump to sell thousands of his Bibles to the state of Oklahoma which plans to spend $3 million on Bibles that are a close match to Trump’s edition. 

The story uncovered that a U.S. publisher backed away from the project under pressure from religious scholars who denounced the merger of Scripture and U.S. founding documents as a “toxic mix” that would fuel Christian nationalism sentiments in evangelical churches. Others called it blasphemous. 

Personalities from Mark Cuban to J.B. Pritzker to Bill Maher and George Takai mentioned it publicly. 

Best of the Week judges were impressed that Lardner and Kang were able to track down actual shipments and values of the Bibles and that the story surfaced in the campaign. 

For a focused investigation that became a talker, Lardner and Kang earn this week’s Best of AP — Second Winner.

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