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The appeals judge left the order in effect against Mary Trump and “any agent” of his, leaving some uncertainty about whether Simon & Schuster is still covered by the order or whether he would risk contempt of court as he moved forward with plans to release the book. , which will be out on July 28 under the title: “‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Most Dangerous Man in the World.”
A Simon & Schuster spokesman did not directly address the company’s plans, but suggested that the firm was waiting to see how the original judge in the case, Poughkeepsie-based Judge Hal Greenwald, rules on a preliminary injunction banning the memoirs.
“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 national discourse that deserves to be published for the benefit of the American public,” said the spokesperson. Adam Rothberg said in a statement. “As everyone knows, there are well-established precedents against pre-restriction and pre-publication mandates, and we remain confident that the preliminary mandate will be denied.”
The lawsuit filed last week seeks to enforce confidentiality provisions in a settlement agreement that several members of the Trump family entered into in 2001 to resolve a dispute over the estate of President Trump’s father, Fred Jr., who died in 1999.
Scheinkman said Greenwald’s previous ruling did not take into account the fact that the public interest in matters related to the Trump family is quite different today than it was two decades ago.
“The legitimate interest in preserving family secrets can be one thing for the family of a real estate developer, no matter how successful it is; it is another matter for the family of the president of the United States, ”the judge wrote.
Scheinkman also noted that the nondisclosure agreement in the agreement appears to be open, but the precedent requires courts issuing injunctions to consider whether the restriction is “temporarily and geographically reasonable.”
“The passage of time and changes in circumstances may have made at least some of the restricted information less significant than it was at the time and, conversely, any legitimate public interest that may have existed in family disputes of a real estate developer and his relatives can be greatly increased by that real estate developer who is now President of the United States and a current candidate for reelection, “said the judge.
President Trump is listed in the agreement as one of the family members with whom Mary Trump promises not to discuss her relationship. While the president has backed legal efforts to curb publication of the book, it is not part of the lawsuit, which is captioned: “Trump v. Trump.”
Charles Harder, a lawyer who represents Robert Trump and regularly represents President Trump and the Trump campaign in similar cases seeking to enforce confidentiality agreements, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the latest developments in the lawsuit.
