Tell-all book by Trump's niece can be released, judge rules
Simon & Schuster can move forward with plans to release a tell-all book by President Trump's niece
Simon & Schuster can move forward with plans to release a tell-all book by President Trump's niece after a New York appellate judge overturned a temporary restraining order against the publisher.
The six-page order Wednesday, written by Justice Alan D. Scheinkman, reversed a lower-court decision handed down a day earlier to delay publication. While an injunction against author Mary Trump remains in place, the ruling means Simon & Schuster can continue with its plan to distribute "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," which is scheduled to be released later this month.
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The president's younger brother, Robert S. Trump, filed the lawsuit against Ms. Trump on Friday in New York State Supreme Court in Dutchess County, alleging that details she included in the book violated a decades-old confidentiality agreement signed by Ms. Trump as part of a financial settlement stemming from a familial inheritance dispute.
In this June 23, 2020, file photo President Donald Trump speaks with reporters before departing on Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
Simon & Schuster, the book publishing unit of ViacomCBS Inc., said in court documents that it wasn't a party to the Trump settlement and therefore wasn't bound by its terms.
Justice Scheinkman agreed.
"Unlike Ms. Trump, S&S has not agreed to surrender or relinquish any of its First Amendment rights," he wrote, adding that the company isn't acting as an agent of Ms. Trump.
The judge didn't rule on the issue at the core of the Trump family clash: whether Ms. Trump breached the terms of her settlement agreement. But he said that courts often balance the interests of the parties with "other legitimate interests, including, especially in this context, the public interest."
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"[T]he legitimate interest in preserving family secrets may be one thing for the family of a real estate developer, no matter how successful; it is another matter for the family of the President of the United States," Justice Scheinkman wrote.
The court in Dutchess County will hear additional arguments on July 10 and rule on whether the temporary injunction against Ms.Trump should continue.
Charles J. Harder, attorney for Robert S. Trump, didn't immediately respond to a request for comment. He has previously called the actions of Ms. Trump and Simon & Schuster "truly reprehensible."
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"Short of corrective action to immediately cease their egregious conduct, we will pursue this case to the very end," Mr. Harder said Tuesday.
Simon & Schuster lauded the late-night decision, calling the book "a work of great interest and importance to the national discourse that fully deserves to be published for the benefit of the American public."
As of Wednesday, the book ranked No. 2 on Amazon's Top 100 bestseller list. According to court documents, 75,000 copies of the book had been printed and were ready for publication, and thousands had already shipped to sellers. The publisher describes the book as a "revelatory, authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that made him."
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"As all know, there are well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions, and we remain confident that the preliminary injunction will be denied," the company said in a statement Wednesday.
Theodore J. Boutrous Jr., counsel for Ms. Trump, praised the decision. "It is very good news that the prior restraint against Simon & Schuster has been vacated and we look forward to filing our brief tomorrow in the trial court explaining why the same result is required as to Ms. Trump, based on the First Amendment and basic contract law," he said.