Washington A New York City judge on Thursday rejected a request by President Trump’s younger brother seeking to block publication of a revealing book written by the president’s niece, Mary Trump, which will hit stores next month.
Judge Peter Kelly of the Queens County Surrogate Court said in his four-page ruling that the court lacks jurisdiction to grant the request of Mr. Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, to stop publication of the book, since any relief should be obtained through action in the New York State Supreme Court.
Kelly said Robert Trump’s requests contained “various irregularities” and that his court is the “inappropriate” forum for the request.
Theodore Boutrous, who represents Mary Trump in the dispute, praised the decision and said in a statement that the Trump family’s request to stop the publication was “unfounded.”
“We hope this decision will end the matter,” Boutrous said. “Democracy thrives on the free exchange of ideas, and neither this court nor any other has the authority to violate the Constitution by imposing a prior restriction on the central political discourse.”
Charles Harder, who represents Robert Trump, said in a statement that he “will proceed to file a new lawsuit in the New York State Supreme Court.”
Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the Most Dangerous Man in the World,” will be published on July 28 or published by Simon & Schuster, a division of ViacomCBS. The publisher describes the book as a “revealing and authoritative portrait of Donald J. Trump and the toxic family that created it.” Mary Trump is the daughter of Mr. Trump’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., who died more than 30 years ago.
Earlier this week, Robert Trump filed a petition with the Queens County Substitute Court to block publication of the Mary Trump book, alleging that it would violate the terms of a confidentiality agreement signed by the Trump family, including the president, his brothers, Mary Trump and her nephew Fred Trump III. The confidentiality agreement was part of the estate proceedings for the estate of Mr. Trump’s father, Fred C. Trump, and his mother, Mary Trump.
Harder said Robert Trump filed the matter in the Queens County Substitute Court because he and the family “agreed to the jurisdiction of future disputes” there.
According to The Daily Beast, Mary Trump is expected to reveal in the book that she was a source for the New York Times in her explosive investigation into Trump’s finances.
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