Shove your cease and desist, Mr. Trump, we’re publishing EARLY: Explosive ‘Fire and Fury’ will hit shelves Friday despite White House saying book is ‘false and fake’ and shouldn’t be sold at all
Michael Wolff is a columnist and author who spent months perched on a sofa in the White House’s West Wing waiting room, talking to Trump insiders
He claims to have carried out 200 taped interviews for his new book on the Trump White House
But he has already been accused of fabricating some quotes in ‘Fire and Fury’
Donald Trump’s personal lawyer fired off a letter Thursday warning Wolff and his publisher that they risk a massive lawsuit if they don’t shelve the book
The White House said Thursday that the book shouldn’t go on sale Jan. 9, and the publisher responded by moving up the release to Jan. 5.
Press secretary insists cease-and-desist from Trump attorney isn’t a command from the federal government so it doesn’t run afoul of the First Amendment
By DAVID MARTOSKO
DAILYMAIL.COM
4 January 2018
The White House said Thursday that Donald Trump doesn’t believe an explosive book leveling sensational claims about his time as president should go on sale January 9 as scheduled.
The publisher responded hours later by saying it agreed – and bumped up the release by four days, to January 5.
One of Trump’s personal lawyers demanded on Thursday morning ‘Fire and Fury,’ by columnist Michael Wolff, be shelved because of what he said were maliciously false claims made in the book against the president.
Press Secretary Sarah Sanders told reporters on Thursday afternoon that the book is ‘full of false and fake information’ and that Trump ‘clearly believes that it shouldn’t be’ published.
‘It’s completely tabloid gossip, full of false and fraudulent claims,’ she said.
Henry Holt, the publisher, confirmed to DailyMail.com and other outlets late in the afternoon that ‘due to unprecedented demand, we are moving the on-sale date for all formats of “Fire and Fury,” by Michael Wolff, to Friday, January 5, at 9 a.m. ET.’
Sanders had insisted that ‘the president absolutely believes in the First Amendment,’ but suggested that libel and defamation can outweigh freedom of speech.
Trump ‘believes in making sure that information is accurate before pushing it out as fact,’ she said, and in this case ‘it certainly and clearly is not.’
Sanders insisted that Thursday morning’s cease-and-desist letter from California attorney Charles J. Harder, known for representing pro wrestler Hulk Hogan and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner, was a demand from Trump personally, and not a command from the federal government.
The distinction is a crucial one: So-called ‘prior restraint’ of free speech by a government agency, preventing an author from publishing something, is seldom permitted under the U.S. Constitution.
Harder, the president’s lawyer, demanded Thursday that publisher Henry Holt and Co. ‘immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book,’ including excerpts and summaries.
‘Your publication of false/baseless statements about Mr. Trump gives rise to, among other claims, defamation by libel per se, false light invasion of privacy, tortious interference with contractual relations, and inducement of breach of contract,’ he wrote.
Former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon has emerged as the villain in the new year’s first seismic political quake, drawing condemnation and a separate lawsuit threat from the president’s legal orbit.
Sanders also said Breitbart News, the right-wing outlet where Bannon is executive chairman, would be right to re-evaluate that relationship.
‘I certainly think it’s something they should look at and consider,’ she said.
‘This book is mistake after mistake after mistake,’ Sanders insisted Thursday, noting that some quoted subjects have already disputed words attributed to them and that other information presented as fact.
The Rest…HERE
