Trump brother files new lawsuit seeking to block niece Mary Trump’s tell-all book about family

President Donald Trump‘s brother has, as expected, filed a new lawsuit seeking to permanently block publication of their niece’s new tell-all book about the wealthy family, a day after a judge in another New York state court tossed out his first such effort on jurisdiction grounds.

Robert Trump’s latest court action targeting Mary Trump’s forthcoming book, on the grounds that it allegedly would violate a non-disclosure agreement, was filed in Dutchess County [N.Y.] Supreme Court. Robert Trump lives in that county, and his brother, the president, owns a golf course there.

Robert Trump’s filing, which names both Mary Trump and the publisher Simon Schuster as defendants, was expected after his first attempt to stop the book was summarily dismissed Thursday in Queens County Surrogate’s Court.

But his lawyer Charles Harder had told CNBC on Thursday that the new case would be filed in New York County Supreme Court, which is in Manhattan, not in upstate Dutchess County, which is about 80 miles north of New York City. 

Harder, who has also represented President Trump on other issues, did not immediately respond to a request for comment Friday.

Mary Trump’s lawyer Theodore Boutrous in an email said the news lawsuit “is yet another baseless attempt by the Trump family to obtain an unconstitutional prior restraint to block core political speech relating to the President.”

“It will fail,” Boutrous said.

Mary’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” is scheduled to be published July 28.

Like the prior court filing in Queens County, Robert Trump argues in his suit that the book will violate the nondisclosure agreement that Mary signed in 2001 with him, Donald Trump and their sister, retired federal appeals judge Maryanne Trump Barry, following a legal dispute over the will of the elder Trumps’ late father, Fred Trump Sr.

Mary is “not allowed to write a book,” President Trump recently said.

Robert’s suit says the confidentiality pact bars all people who signed the NDA from writing about their legal dispute over Fred Sr.’s will, or about “their relationship with each other.”

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/06/26/mary-trump-book-presidents-brother-files-suit-seeking-to-block-publication.html