07/01/20
Mary Trump's book is said to be a scathing indictment of her uncle, but it has become embroiled in a legal dispute.
A New York state judge has issued a temporary restraining order against a book President Donald Trump’s niece Mary intended to publish next month offering an unflattering account of her relationship with the president, his father Fred Jr. and other family members.
Poughkeepsie-based Supreme Court Justice Hal Greenwald issued the order Tuesday at the request of President Trump’s brother Robert, who claims the book violates a non-disclosure agreement that was part of the settlement of Fred Trump’s estate following his death in 1999.
The book--titled, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man”--is not set for release until July 28, but the restraining order blocks publisher Simon & Schuster from printing or distributing it in any fashion while the judge considers issuing a longer-term injunction.
Attorneys for Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster quickly filed an appeal Tuesday afternoon. Lawyer Ted Boutrous called the judge's order “a prior restraint on core political speech that flatly violates the First Amendment.”
“This book, which addresses matters of great public concern and importance about a sitting president in an election year, should not be suppressed even for one day,” Boutrous added.
Robert Trump’s lawyer, Charles Harder, blasted the planned book as “truly reprehensible.” Harder said his client plans to seek “enormous damages” against Mary Trump and the publishing house unless plans for the book are abandoned.
Harder said in court filings that in the estate settlement reached in 2001, Mary Trump "agreed to not 'directly or indirectly publish or cause to be published any diary, memoir, letter, story, photograph, interview, article, essay, account, or description or depiction of any kind whatsoever, whether fictionalized or not, concerning their litigation or relationship with the [Proponents]... or assist or provide information to others in connection therewith."
Harder said his client doesn't know precisely what's in the book, but believes that promise is likely to be violated because Simon & Schuster has indicated in promotional materials that the book will contain "an 'insider's perspective' of 'countless holiday meals,' 'family interactions,' and 'family events.'"
In a letter to the court last Friday, Harder urged Greenwald to avoid a repeat of the recent situation involving former national security adviser John Bolton's insider account of his dealings with President Trump. The Justice Department sought a restraining order against the book — titled, "The Room Where It Happened" —but a judge ruled that issuing one would be futile because advance copies had already been distributed to the media and circulated widely.
"We are concerned that Simon & Schuster (which also published the Bolton book) will take steps to make it impossible to implement a preliminary injunction if one is granted, thereby vitiating Plaintiff’s right to injunctive relief," Harder wrote.
Lawyers for Mary Trump and Simon & Schuster argued that it would be improper for the court to impose a prior restraint without allowing legal briefing from the author and publisher, but Greenwald decided to put a hold on publication-related moves while the legal briefing goes forward.
Last week, Harder asked another New York state court judge to block the book, but that Queens-based judge turned down the request, saying the issue was not a proper one to raise in his probate court, especially given that the litigation over the will has been dormant for years.
https://www.politico.com/news/2020/0...s-niece-345577
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