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Trump lawyers try to halt book's release as White House fights to contain firestorm Trump lawyers try to halt book's release as White House fights to contain firestorm
(about 1 hour later)
Lawyers for Donald Trump moved on Thursday to try to shut down the explosive new book which has exposed the chaos behind the scenes at the White House. Lawyers for Donald Trump moved on Thursday to try to shut down the explosive new book which has exposed chaos behind the scenes at the White House.
Michael Wolff’s book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House is due to be released next Tuesday, but after extracts from the book were first made public by the Guardian, the Trump White House has been thrown into a frenzy. Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by Michael Wolffe, is due to be released on Tuesday. But after extracts from the book were made public by the Guardian, the White House has been thrown into a frenzy.
First, Trump issued a remarkable personal statement denouncing Steve Bannon, his one-time confidant, who he castigated as self-aggrandizing and not a critical figure in his presidency. First, Trump issued a remarkable personal statement denouncing Steve Bannon, his one-time confidant, whom he castigated as self-aggrandizing and not a critical figure.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Trump said. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency,” Trump said. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders described the president as “furious and disgusted” at Bannon’s attacks on his family, which included the claim that Donald Trump Jr’s meeting with a group of Russians who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton had been “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”. White House spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said the president was “furious and disgusted” at Bannon’s attacks on his family, which included the claim that Donald Trump Jr’s Trump Tower meeting with a group of Russians who had promised dirt on Hillary Clinton had been “treasonous” and “unpatriotic”.
As the White House struggled to contain the fallout from the book’s damaging portrayal of the president, a lawyer for Trump sent a letter demanding Wolff and his publisher “cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination” of the forthcoming book, according to ABC News. Then on Thursday, as the White House struggled to contain the fallout from the book, a lawyer for Trump sent a letter demanding Wolff and his publisher, Henry Holt and Co, “immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination”, or excerpts and summaries of its contents. The legal notice, sent by Beverly Hills-based attorney Charles Harder, also demanded a copy of the book.
The lawyer, Charles Harder sent a similar letter to Steve Bannon on Wednesday night, that accused Trump’s former chief strategist of violating an employee agreement and defaming the president. Harder sent a similar letter to Bannon on Wednesday night, accusing the former chief strategist of violating an employee agreement and defaming the president.
The Guardian published first details from the book on Wednesday after obtaining a copy from a bookseller in New England. New York magazine then rushed to publish a lengthy extract and more details began to emerge. At Mar-a-Lago, just before the new year, a heavily made-up Trump failed to recognize a succession of old friends
On Thursday, in a column for the Hollywood Reporter titled My Year Inside Trump’s Insane White House”, Wolff gave more insight into what he discovered as sat “day after day on a West Wing couch”. The Guardian published details from the book on Wednesday after obtaining a copy from a bookseller in New England. New York magazine then rushed to publish a lengthy extract and more details began to emerge.
He suggested administration officials do not believe Donald Trump is capable of fulfilling his job as president. On Thursday, in a column for the Hollywood Reporter titled My Year Inside Trump’s Insane White House, Wolff gave more insight into what he discovered as he sat “day after day on a West Wing couch” for a year.
Wolff, who spent the past year reporting the book, said he was left with the impression that all of them believed Trump was unfit for the job. Administration officials, he suggested, do not believe Donald Trump is capable of fulfilling his role as president.
“Hoping for the best, with their personal futures as well as the country’s future depending on it, my indelible impression of talking to them and observing them through much of the first year of his presidency, is that they all – 100% — came to believe he was incapable of functioning in his job,” Wolff wrote. “Everybody was painfully aware of the increasing pace of his repetitions,” Wolff wrote. “It used to be inside of 30 minutes he’d repeat, word-for-word and expression-for-expression, the same three stories – now it was within 10 minutes. Indeed, many of his tweets were the product of his repetitions – he just couldn’t stop saying something.”
He added: “Hoping for the best, with their personal futures as well as the country’s future depending on it, my indelible impression of talking to them and observing them through much of the first year of his presidency, is that they all – 100% – came to believe he was incapable of functioning in his job.”
In a final anecdote, Wolff wrote: “At Mar-a-Lago, just before the new year, a heavily made-up Trump failed to recognize a succession of old friends.”In a final anecdote, Wolff wrote: “At Mar-a-Lago, just before the new year, a heavily made-up Trump failed to recognize a succession of old friends.”
Sarah Sanders, the White House press secretary, said the book was “filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence with the White House”. Sanders said the book was “filled with false and misleading accounts from individuals who have no access or influence with the White House”.
Bannon hosted Breitbart News Tonight on Sirius XM radio on Wednesday night, CNN reported, and made little reference to the acrimony. Wolff’s book soared from 48,449th on Amazon’s bestselling books list to No 1. Veteran political observers said they could not remember a falling out so public or rancorous as that between Trump and Bannon.
Wolff said in an author’s note that his book was based on more than 200 interviews, including multiple conversations with the president and senior staff. Sanders claimed Wolff “never actually sat down with the president” and had spoken with him just once, briefly, after Trump took office. She dismissed the book as “trashy tabloid fiction”.
“Aides thought they had more time to prepare for the book’s formal release,” the Washington Post reported on Wednesday night. “Trump spent much of the day raging about the book to top aides, officials and advisers said … As he fumed, some aides were still frantically searching for a copy of the book, and even senior aides like [Hope] Hicks had not seen it by the afternoon, officials said.”
The furious controversy consumed time and energy in the West Wing as Trump prepared for a weekend retreat at Camp David. The president was due to meet Paul Ryan, the House speaker, and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell to discuss Republican plans for 2018.
The president’s approval rating is at rock bottom and midterm elections loom in November. Bannon, now executive chairman of the conservative Breitbart News website, is known to be planning to throw his weight behind candidates that share his hardline nationalist agenda.
He could yet use Breitbart to hold Trump’s feet to the fire on issues such as immigration, a wall on the Mexican border and a trade war with China.
Joshua Green, author of Devil’s Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump, and the Storming of the Presidency, said: “I don’t think Bannon is going anywhere … He speaks for a wing of the Republican party that is real and powerful. He reflects and amplifies a sentiment among grassroots Republican supporters on issues such as trade and immigration that is very real.”
On Wednesday, Bannon hosted Breitbart News Tonight on Sirius XM radio as usual, making little reference to the public rupture with the president.
When a caller brought up the issue, Bannon replied: “The president of the United States is a great man. You know I support him day in and day out.”When a caller brought up the issue, Bannon replied: “The president of the United States is a great man. You know I support him day in and day out.”