{"id":10340,"date":"2020-07-13T23:55:21","date_gmt":"2020-07-14T06:55:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10340"},"modified":"2020-07-15T03:24:25","modified_gmt":"2020-07-15T10:24:25","slug":"post1-111","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/worldcampaign.net\/?p=10340","title":{"rendered":"“Judge rules Mary Trump can publicize book about her uncle”, Associated Press"},"content":{"rendered":"
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By Larry Neumeister, July 13, 2020<\/p>\n

NEW YORK (AP) \u2014 Mary Trump can talk about the highly critical book she wrote about her uncle, President Donald Trump, over the objections of the president\u2019s brother, a judge ruled Monday as he lifted an order that had blocked her from publicizing or distributing her work.<\/p>\n

State Supreme Court Judge Hal B. Greenwald in Poughkeepsie, New York, rejected arguments by the brother, Robert Trump, that Mary Trump is blocked from talking about family members publicly by an agreement relatives made to settle the estate of her father after his death.<\/p>\n

The judge said the confidentiality clauses in the 2001 agreement, \u201cviewed in the context of the current Trump family circumstances in 2020, would \u2018\u2026offend public policy as a prior restraint on protected speech\u2026\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cNotwithstanding that the Book has been published and distributed in great quantities, to enjoin Mary L. Trump at this juncture would be incorrect and serve no purpose. It would be moot,\u201d the judge wrote.<\/p>\n

Greenwald said the confidentiality agreement that settled multiple lawsuits mainly concerned the financial aspect of the deal, which isn\u2019t as interesting now as it might have been two decades ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cOn 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,\u201d the judge said.<\/p>\n

He also wrote that Robert Trump had not shown any damages that the book\u2019s publication would cause himself or the public.<\/p>\n

Robert Trump is not frequently mentioned in the book that seeks to trace how family members were affected by the president\u2019s father, a successful real estate owner, and how the president may have developed some of the traits that have been most apparent at the White House.<\/p>\n

Mary Trump, a trained psychologist and Donald Trump\u2019s only niece, wrote in the book that she had \u201cno problem calling Donald a narcissist \u2014 he meets all nine criteria as outlined in the \u201cDiagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.\u201d<\/p>\n

The judge reversed orders he had issued temporarily blocking Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, from publishing or distributing a tell-all book about the president. An appeals judge had already lifted the order blocking Simon & Schuster.<\/p>\n

The book, \u201cToo Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World\u2019s Most Dangerous Man,\u201d was originally to be published at the end of July. The publisher announced last week it would be published Tuesday.<\/p>\n

Mary Trump\u2019s lawyer, Theodore Boutrous Jr., said the judge \u201cgot it right in rejecting the Trump family\u2019s effort to squelch Mary Trump\u2019s core political speech on important issues of public concern.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe First Amendment forbids prior restraints because they are intolerable infringements on the right to participate in democracy. Tomorrow, the American public will be able to read Mary\u2019s important words for themselves,\u201d he said in a statement.<\/p>\n

In a statement, Simon & Schuster said it was \u201cdelighted that the Court has denied the plaintiff\u2019s request for preliminary injunction, and vacated the Temporary Restraining Order against our author, Mary L. Trump.\u201d<\/p>\n

It added: \u201cThe unfettered right to publish is a sacred American freedom and a founding principle of our republic, and we applaud the Court for affirming well-established precedents against prior restraint and pre-publication injunctions,\u201d it added. \u201c\u2018TOO MUCH AND NEVER ENOUGH\u2019 is a work of great significance, with very real implications for our national discourse, and we look forward to bringing it to a public that is clearly eager to read it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Messages seeking comment were left with an attorney for Robert Trump.<\/p>\n

On the eve of its publication, Mary Trump\u2019s book was ranked No. 1 on the Amazon.com list of best-selling books.<\/p>\n

Trending on AP News<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n