[Smokin' Joe]

So, you are saying he speculated on image rights? Why that dirtbag! He might have made some money doing that!

Those rights would have had to be acquired by or transferred to Make America Awesome PAC for them to do the ad, or there may be a copyright violation by MAA.

[Smokin' Joe]

Were those EXCLUSIVE rights? If not, then the rights to use that image could have been acquired by others, too.

There is a chance he was holding those rights so the image did not disappear down the memory hole, too.

I linked to an eBay page where the GQ issue with that photo shoot was for sale the morning the story broke, (about 180 USD, plus another 20 for 'shipping'). By 6 hours later, the eBay page was gone, as in 'does not exist' gone. Someone was tidying up.