Trump legally can't stop the distribution of Michael Wolff's book: Judge Napolitano
President Donald Trump’s legal team sent a cease-and-desist letter to publisher Steve Rubin and author Michael Wolff on Thursday, demanding they stop the publication of “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House”.
Fox News senior judicial analyst Judge Andrew Napolitano said President Trump’s legal team won’t be able to stop the release of the book.
“There are two causes of action alleged in the eight-page letter that his lawyer sent. One is for damages to the president’s reputation and the other seeks what is called the prior restraint,” he told FOX Business’ Kennedy.
Napolitano explained how prior restraints are “unlawful” and that no judge will side with Trump’s suit.
“Prior restraints are unlawful under the First Amendment and have been uniformly rejected. There isn’t a judge in the country that would sign an order restraining the distribution of a book. Particularly after the ‘toothpaste is already out of the tube” and the most salacious parts of the book are already out there,” he said.
Excerpts of the book began surfacing online, revealing some of former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon’s contributions to the novel, slamming Donald Trump Jr., Jared Kushner and former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort over their meeting with a Russian lawyer last year.
“In terms of damages, it is impossible to liable the President of the United States because the theory of libel is the publisher has a bigger megaphone than the victim. The legal reason is this is all somebody’s opinion and opinion is protected speech. The only way you can liable a well-known person as if you publish something knowing it’s false or was with reckless disregard to the truth or falsity except for the president who cannot be libeled under any circumstances,” he said.
The book is currently the bestselling book on Amazon and attracted so much public interest that the publisher decided to accelerate the release date to Friday.