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Trump’s niece says gag order was fraudulent ahead of publication of her tell-all book

She claims ‘the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting president of the United States’ is part of her life story

James Crump
Friday 03 July 2020 17:32 BST
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The tumultuous history of Donald Trump and female reporters

Donald Trump‘s niece has claimed that the non-discolsure agreement (NDA) she signed during an inheritance settlement with her family does not restrict the publication of her new tell-all book about the president.

Mary L Trump’s book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created The World’s Most Dangerous Man, will be released on 28 July, after a decision to block its release was overturned by a New York appeals court earlier this week.

The president’s brother, Robert Trump, had attempted to block the book’s publication because he argued it breached a confidentiality agreement relating to the estate of his father, Fred Trump, signed by Ms Trump 19 years ago.

The Trump family still have an injunction against Ms Trump, but she is asking the New York Supreme Court to lift it, as she claims the NDA does not apply.

Her book will reportedly reveal that she was the primary source for the New York Times’ investigation into the Trump family’s alleged involvement in tax fraud schemes.

She claimed that finding out her inheritance was worth less than she was informed through the exposé, makes the NDA an unenforceable fraud, according to the Daily Beast.

Ms Trump’s lawyer, Ted Boutrous, wrote in an affidavit on Thursday that the “plaintiff (Robert Trump) also cannot succeed on the merits of his contractual claims because the confidentiality provision in the decades-old Settlement Agreement of financial disputes that Plaintiff invokes is unenforceable and inapplicable.

“The Settlement Agreement is unenforceable and void because plaintiff and his siblings fraudulently induced Ms Trump to enter into it based on false valuations that were revealed by the New York Times in its exposé of the Trump family finances in October of 2018.”

Ms Trump added that she never believed the NDA ever barred her from writing her “life story”, which she claims involves “the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting President of the United States, during his campaign for re-election.”

She claimed that because members of her family, including the president, have “spoken out about our family and the will dispute on numerous occasions,” that the confidentiality agreement is irrelevant.

“None of the parties to the Settlement Agreement, including my uncles Donald Trump and Robert Trump, or my aunt Maryanne Trump, has ever sought my permission to speak publicly about our family or their personal relationships with me, my brother Fred, or among each other,” she wrote.

Ms Trump’s book is expected to be published by Simon & Schuster at the end of the month because judge Alan D Scheinkman ruled on Wednesday that the NDA does not bar the publisher from releasing it.

“While Ms Trump unquestionably possesses the same First Amendment expressive rights belonging to all Americans, she also possesses the right to enter into contracts, including the right to contract away her First Amendment rights,” Mr Scheinkman wrote.

“Unlike Ms Trump, Simon & Schuster has not agreed to surrender or relinquish any of its First Amendment rights.”

Although the publishers were not aware of Ms Trump’s NDA before the court hearings, they released a statement after the delay was overturned, where they showed support for her.

“We support Mary L Trump’s right to tell her story in Too Much and Never Enough, a work of great interest and importance to the national discourse that fully deserves to be published for the benefit of the American public.”

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