NY Court Blocks Trump Niece From Publishing Her Book

Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump speaks during an Election Night invitation-only party at the New York Hilton Midtown November 8, 2016 in New York City. Trump and his opponent, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, have been locked in a tight race for the White House.
NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 09: Republican president-elect Donald Trump hugs his brother Robert Trump after delivering his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 ... NEW YORK, NY - NOVEMBER 09: Republican president-elect Donald Trump hugs his brother Robert Trump after delivering his acceptance speech at the New York Hilton Midtown in the early morning hours of November 9, 2016 in New York City. Donald Trump defeated Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton to become the 45th president of the United States. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images) MORE LESS
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President Trump’s brother secured a court order Tuesday temporarily blocking the publication of a book by his and the President’s niece.

Robert Trump took his niece Mary Trump to court over her plans to release a memoir titled “Too Much and Never Enough, How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” which is scheduled to come out in late July. Robert Trump alleges that publication of the book is a violation of a nondisclosure agreement the family signed when settling the estate of Robert and Donald Trump’s father.

The New York Supreme Court said in its order that Mary Trump and her publisher Simon & Schuster are temporarily restrained from publishing the memoir. The order sets the stage for more proceedings on the matter next month.

Mary Trump’s lawyer Ted Boutrous has indicated she will “immediately” appeal the order, even though it is only temporary.

Boutrous called the 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 said in the a statement.

Lawyers for Simon & Schuster also quickly filed an appeal, according to Politico.

Robert Trump’s lawyer, Charles Harder, issued a statement praising the order and promising that Robert Trump “will seek the maximum remedies available by law for the enormous damages caused by Mary Trump’s breach of contract and Simon & Schuster’s intentional interference with that contract.”

“Short of corrective action to immediately cease their egregious conduct, we will pursue this case to the very end,” Harder, who has a reputation for his aggressive litigative approach, said.

Mary Trump is the daughter of Robert and Donald’s late brother Fred Trump Jr.

Read the New York court’s order below:

Update: This story has been updated to include the news that Simon & Schuster was appealing the order.

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Notable Replies

  1. Re: S-n-S

    Play it slow, play it slow, play it slo…

  2. The hearing is July 10. The publication date is July 28.

    So this really applies to leaks more than publication.

    Still looks like a First Amendment violation, though…

  3. NY Court Blocks Trump Niece From Publishing Her Book

    Looks like the value of Mary’s book just went up.

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