Summary: Trump’s attorney threatened Steve Bannon with a cease-and-desist letter on Wednesday.
In response to the upcoming book “Fire and Fury,” President Donald Trump’s attorney issued a “cease and desist” letter to Steve Bannon, a former White House chief strategist and executive chairman of Breitbart News. Once a friend to Trump, Bannon shocked the White House by speaking with author Michael Wolff, blasting the president’s eldest son and implying Trump knew about the infamous Trump Tower Russian meeting.
On Wednesday, excerpts from Wolff’s new book “Fire and Fury” made headlines when it was revealed that Bannon thought Donald Trump Jr.’s meeting with a Russian lawyer in order to obtain dirt on Trump’s political rival Hillary Clinton was “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.” According to the book, Bannon implied that Trump knew of his son’s meeting.
Shortly after the excerpts went viral, Trump issued a scathing four-paragraph rebuttal, stating that Bannon had nothing to do with his presidential win and that he had lost his mind after his firing.
On Wednesday, Trump double-downed on his silencing of Bannon, and he had his attorney, Charles Harder, issue a cease-and-desist on the grounds that Bannon had violated non-disclosure and non-disparaging agreements. According to Politico, Bannon allegedly signed these agreements during the 2016 presidential election.
“Mr. Trump and the Company hereby demand that you cease and desist from any and all further disclosure of Confidential Information, disparagement of Mr. Trump, his family members, his or their companies, and/or the Company, and communication with the media, including but not limited to Mr. Wolff and any and all other journalists, reports, authors and bloggers,” Harder wrote.
Harder stated that if Bannon did not stop disparaging Trump that legal action may be taken.
“Mr. Trump and the Company retain all rights to pursue legal action against you. Should that occur, they would bring all available causes of action and seek all available legal and equitable remedies, including monetary damages, to the maximum extent permitted by law,” Harder wrote.
Harder is a prominent libel/defamation attorney who successfully sued Gawker on behalf of Hulk Hogan. Gawker published a sex tape of Hogan and his friend’s wife, and Harder argued that the gossip website had violated the wrestler’s privacy. The multimillion-dollar win from that case led to the bankruptcy of Gawker, and since then, Harder has gone on to represent Melania Trump in her defamation lawsuit against The Daily Mail. The current first lady denied the British tabloid claim that she was an escort before marrying our 45th president, and she won a $3 million settlement.
- Donald Trump and Steve Bannon War of Words Over “Fire and Fury”
- Melania Trump and Daily Mail Settle Defamation Case for $3 Million