Donald Trump is ?? ??? ?? ??reportedly "furious" about Michael Wolff's forthcoming behind-the-scenes book on the Trump presidency, and now the president is making his tantrum official.
On Thursday, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White Houseauthor Michael Wolff and book publisher Henry Holt & Co. received a cease and desist letter from a lawyer representing President Trump, according to the Washington Post. The letter ordered the publisher to stop publication of the book, including excerpts and summaries in the press, like Wednesday's widely read and quoted "Donald Trump Didn't Want to be President," published in New York Magazine.
SEE ALSO: The 14 most mind-blowing items from Michael Wolff's tell-all Trump book excerptThe lawyers also sought a copy of the book pre-publication, and advised the publisher to prepare for legal action, including libel charges.
But the letter seems to have backfired, or at least been brushed off. According to CNN, the publisher announced Thursday afternoon that it would move up the book's release to Friday, Jan. 5, from its original Tuesday, Jan. 9 publication date. Guess getting a copy of that book won't be so problematic for the attorneys.
“We see 'Fire and Fury' as an extraordinary contribution to our national discourse, and are proceeding with the publication of the book,” a Henry Holt & Co. representative wrote in an email to Mashable, also confirming that they had received the cease and desist letter from Trump's attorneys.
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The attorney representing Trump is Charles J. Harder, who specializes in media defamation suits. He's infamous for representing Hulk Hogan (cough — Peter Thiel) in his case against Gawker Media, which resulted in the controversial shuttering of the site. He also represented Melania Trump, winning a libel action for her against the Daily Mail.
Former Trump adviser Stephen K. Bannon reportedly also received a legal notice late Wednesday evening for violating a confidentiality agreement he signed with the Trump organization, and possibly defaming the President.
“You have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company,” read the letter to Bannon.
In a summary of the portion of the book published Wednesday by The Guardian, Bannon is said to have described a meeting between Donald Trump, Jr., and a group of Russians who claimed to have damning information on Hillary Clinton as "treasonous," and disparaged the administration's mishandling of allegations of Russian collusion. The White House released an official statement discrediting Bannon, saying "when he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind.”
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Harder's law firm and the White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The legal action does not appear to have slowed down either Bannon or Wolff. Bannon has yet to respond to the scathing quotes Wolff continues to attribute to him in excerpts and summaries of the book in the press, though on Breitbart's Sirius XM radio show he said Wednesday that he still supports President Trump.
Wolff himself is defending his methods and continues to share revelations about Trump's first year in the White House.
On Thursday morning, Wolff published a column in The Hollywood Reporter,where he is a regular contributor. He expanded on how he gathered the information and explained more about what he learned from his time observing the Trump administration.
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Apparently, Trump effectively gave a shrug when Wolff asked for observational access, which his confused staffers interpreted as an "OK, sure." Wolff started "plunking myself down, day after day, on a West Wing couch." This, Wolff says, provided a front-row seat to the drama of the White House.
The West Wing is configured in such a way that the anteroom is quite a thoroughfare — everybody passes by. Assistants — young women in the Trump uniform of short skirts, high boots, long and loose hair — as well as, in situation-comedy proximity, all the new stars of the show: Steve Bannon, Kellyanne Conway, Reince Priebus, Sean Spicer, Jared Kushner, Mike Pence, Gary Cohn, Michael Flynn (and after Flynn's abrupt departure less than a month into the job for his involvement in the Russia affair, his replacement, H.R. McMaster), all neatly accessible.
What continues to emerge is a picture of a confused group of pros and amateurs, catering to the whims of an infantile/senile Trump as they battled for power in a chaotic first year in the White House.
"For Rex Tillerson, he was a moron," Wolff writes of staffers' impressions of the president. "For Gary Cohn, he was dumb as s—-. For H.R. McMaster, he was a hopeless idiot. For Steve Bannon, he had lost his mind."
In Wednesday's press briefing, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders insisted on behalf of the administration that Wolff's account is false, and that Wolff had no more than one 5- to 7-minute conversation with Trump. However, Axiosreported on Thursday that Wolff apparently has hours of recorded conversations with Bannon and other top officials on tape. While it sounds like Wolff gathered much of his reporting through observation and note-taking, this sort of hard record could be crucial for verifying his access — both in the public opinion, and potentially in court.
Legally or otherwise, it looks like the veracity of Wolff's accounts won't be settled anytime soon. For now, we'll just grab the popcorn as the sometimes hilarious/sometimes deeply troubling revelations keep on comin'.
UPDATE Jan. 4, 4:00 p.m. ET: News that 'Fire and Fury' will be released four days earlier than expected was added.
UPDATE Jan. 4, 5:00 p.m. ET: A statement from the 'Fire and Fury' publishers was added.
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