Judge lifts gag order on Mary Trump ahead of tell-all book release
A judge in New York lifted the temporary restraining order on President Trump's niece Mary Trump, allowing her to speak freely ahead of the upcoming publication of her tell-all book. The Trump family had argued that Mary Trump violated the 2001 terms of patriarch Fred Trump's estate by writing the tell-all, but Judge Hal Greenwald denied their request.
"To reiterate the court's position, the Agreement was a stipulation that settled multiple lawsuits and in exchange consideration was paid out, no specific consideration was paid for confidentiality," Greenwald wrote in the decision. "Further, what was confidential was the financial aspect of the Agreement, which may not be so interesting now as it might have been in 2001. On the other hand the non-confidential part of the Agreement, the Trump family relationships, may be more interesting now in 2020 with a Presidential election on the horizon."
Mary Trump's attorney Theodore J. Boutrous Jr. said in a statement "the court got it right."
Her book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," will be published by ViacomCBS subsidiary Simon & Schuster on Tuesday.
The restraining order did not apply to Simon & Schuster, which planned to go ahead with publication regardless of the lawsuit. The judge's decision will now allow Mary Trump to do interviews promoting the book.
Mary Trump is the daughter of Mr. Trump's elder brother Frederick Trump Jr., who died in 1981 at the age of 42 after struggling with alcoholism. The book gives an intimate, first-hand account of the president's upbringing and rise to one of the most powerful positions in the world.
"She wants people to be aware of who's in office, who's running the country, who's one of the most powerful people in the world, and how he became the way he is," Mary's friend Alice Hafter-Frankston told "CBS This Morning."
In the book, Mary Trump, a clinical psychologist, lays out a case claiming Mr. Trump is a "narcissist." She points to Mr. Trump's relationship with his father, Fred, who she calls a sociopath, as a driving force behind the president's alleged issues.