Pages

Tuesday 7 July 2020

Mary Trump's tell-all promising to expose 'cheating as a way of life' for the president and his family has been bumped up to July 14 - two weeks early - as the Trump siblings continue to battle over its publication

The tell-all book by Donald Trump's niece will be published two weeks early - on July 14 - as her publisher tries to rush it into bookstores amid a legal battle over its fate.
Simon & Schuster said that they were acting because of ‘high demand and extraordinary interest’ in ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man’, by Mary Trump. 
They also revealed new details from the book which will tell how in the Trump family ‘financial worth is the same as self-worth; humans are only valued in monetary terms’.
The book will reveal that ‘a ‘killer’ instinct is revered, while qualities like empathy, kindness, and expertise are punished.
According to Mary, among the Trumps ‘taking responsibility for your failures is discouraged’ and they see ‘cheating as a way of life’.
The move comes after a judge in Dutchess County, New York, imposed a restraining order against Simon & Schuster to stop them publishing the book.
That was vacated by a federal appeal judge but a hearing is still set for July 10 in Dutchess County.
The aggressive move by Simon & Schuster appears to ensure that the book is published.
In a statement a spokesperson for Mary said: ‘The act by a sitting president to muzzle a private citizen is just the latest in a series of disturbing behaviors which have already destabilized a fractured nation in the face of a global pandemic.
‘If Mary cannot comment, one can only help but wonder: what is Donald Trump so afraid of?’
Mary's book - titled Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World¿s Most Dangerous Man ¿ will now be published on July 14
Freddy Trump's daughter Mary is planning to publish an excoriating biography of how her family 'created the world's most dangerous man,' with the president and two of his siblings fighting in court to stop her
President Donald Trump's niece Mary L. Trump (left) says that the confidentiality clause she agreed to 19 years ago under an inheritance settlement with her family does not restrict her from writing her tell-all book (right) about her uncle
The book is already No. 1 on the Amazon best seller list and promises to be the most revealing portrait of the Trump family so far.
Simon & Schuster released a brief extract from the prologue which reads: ‘In addition to the firsthand accounts I can give as my father’s daughter and my uncle’s only niece, I have the perspective of a trained clinical psychologist.
‘Too Much and Never Enough is the story of the most visible and powerful family in the world. And I am the only Trump who is willing to tell it’.
The publishers have previously said it will detail a 'nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse', according to the blurb.
It is also expected to reveal that Mary was the primary source of the Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into Trump's tax history.
That report, published in October 2018, found that the president received more than $400million in today's dollars from his father's real estate empire and had been involved in 'fraudulent' tax schemes - crushing his image as a self-made man
The legal tussle over the book centers around a nondisclosure agreement that Mary signed 20 years ago to settle a dispute over the estate of her grandfather Fred St, the President’s dad.
The Trumps argue that this prevents her from writing a memoir but she disagrees.
In an affidavit filed last week she claimed she relied on ‘false valuations’ from the rest of her family to determine the amount she got from Fred Sr’s will.
Mary has previously alleged in a lawsuit that the Trump family took advantage of a mentally incapacitated Fred Sr to all but cut her and her brother, Fred Trump III, out of his will.
Mary Trump, seen at her New York home last week. Her  book is already No. 1 on the Amazon best seller list and promises to be the most revealing portrait of the Trump family so far
Mary Trump, seen at her New York home last week. Her  book is already No. 1 on the Amazon best seller list and promises to be the most revealing portrait of the Trump family so far
The siblings are the children of Fred Trump Jr, the President’s older brother who died in 1981 after struggling with alcoholism his whole life.
In their court filings the Trumps argued they would suffer ‘irreparable harm’ if the book were to come out.
Yet Simon & Schuster said that it had already printed 75,000 copies and started to ship them to sellers, and had been unaware of the NDA.
The publishers claimed that the Trumps were infringing on Mary’s First Amendment rights by trying to gag her.
Mary's lawyers asserted that it's obvious the president and his family 'do not want the American public to hear' their client's story, but said that 'the First Amendment, ordinary rules of contract law, and bedrock equitable principles defeat Plaintiff's extraordinary and unwarranted request for injunctive relief'.
In a press release Simon & Schuster call the book ‘revelatory’ and say it will lift the lid on the ‘toxic family’ that made the President who he is.
The publishers say: ‘Mary Trump shines a bright light on the dark history of their family in order to explain how her uncle became the man who now threatens the world’s health, economic security, and social fabric’.
Mary spent much of her childhood at her grandparents’ home in Queens, New York, where the President and his four siblings lived.
She will talk in the book about seeing a ‘tragic combination of neglect and abuse’ and the ‘strange and harmful relationship' between the President and his father.
Simon & Schuster say: ‘Mary recounts in unsparing detail everything from her uncle Donald’s place in the family spotlight and (his ex-wife) Ivana’s penchant for regifting to her grandmother’s frequent injuries and illnesses and the appalling way Donald, Fred Trump’s favorite son, dismissed and derided him when he began to succumb to Alzheimer’s’.  
Mary Trump claimed the non-disclosure agreement she signed  19 years ago under an inheritance settlement with her family does not restrict her from writing a tell-all book about her uncle. 
She defended her forthcoming book, 'Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man', in an affidavit filed Thursday, a day after a federal appeals court lifted a temporary restraining order blocking its publication by Simon & Schuster.  
Mary, a psychologist, is asking the New York Supreme Court to lift a restraining order against her, arguing that the confidentiality agreement she signed nearly two decades ago to end a dispute over her grandfather Fred Trump Sr's will was an unenforceable fraud.
She claims that at the time of the signing she believed the asset amounts described in the agreement were accurate, but later learned the valuations were false in a New York Times expose.  
Mary further said she 'never believed' the agreement would bar her telling her 'life story' - which now includes 'the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting President of the United States, during his campaign for re-election'.  
She also suggested that the agreement is irrelevant because President Trump 'has spoken out about our family and the will dispute on numerous occasions'. 
'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,' the affidavit states.
Mary's lawyers asserted that it's obvious the president and his family 'do not want the American public to hear' their client's story, but said that 'the First Amendment, ordinary rules of contract law, and bedrock equitable principles defeat Plaintiff's extraordinary and unwarranted request for injunctive relief'. 
Mary said she 'never believed' the confidentiality agreement would bar her telling her 'life story' - which now includes 'the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting President of the United States, during his campaign for re-election'. Trump is pictured at a rally on June 20
Mary said she 'never believed' the confidentiality agreement would bar her telling her 'life story' - which now includes 'the conduct and character of my uncle, the sitting President of the United States, during his campaign for re-election'. Trump is pictured at a rally on June 20
The Trump family feud came to light last month after reports emerged that Mary had written a bombshell book describing a 'nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse', according to the blurb.
It is also expected to reveal that Mary was the primary source of the Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation into Trump's tax history. 
That report, published in October 2018, found that the president received more than $400million in today's dollars from his father's real estate empire and had been involved in 'fraudulent' tax schemes - crushing his image as a self-made man.
Mary's book is due to hit stores nationwide on July 28 and is already ranked number one on Amazon's bestseller list. 
President Trump's brother Robert filed court documents last month to block the book's publication and secured a temporary restraining order against Mary and Simon & Schuster. 
But on Wednesday the court lifted the restraining order against the publisher - claiming that, unlike Mary, the company was not bound by a confidentiality agreement and was therefore within their rights to publish the book.  

'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,' Presiding Judge Alan D. Scheinkman wrote in his ruling on the appeal.  
'Unlike Ms Trump, Simon & Schuster has not agreed to surrender or relinquish any of its First Amendment rights.' 
Simon & Schuster responded to the appeal in a statement on Wednesday saying: '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.' 
The publisher has claimed they were not aware Mary had signed a confidentiality agreement. 
Mary's lawyers argued in Thursday's affidavit that her restraining order should be lifted as well, writing that Robert Trump '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'.  
Mary and her brother Fred III filed suit against the president, his younger brother Robert and their sister Maryanne in 2000 for wrongful termination of medical benefits and coverage. When Fred Sr died in 1999, Mary and her brother Fred Trump III challenged his will because they claimed that the Trump family exerted undue influence to cut them out. Donald, Robert and Maryanne Trump are pictured together in 1990
Mary and her brother Fred III filed suit against the president, his younger brother Robert and their sister Maryanne in 2000 for wrongful termination of medical benefits and coverage. When Fred Sr died in 1999, Mary and her brother Fred Trump III challenged his will because they claimed that the Trump family exerted undue influence to cut them out. Donald, Robert and Maryanne Trump are pictured together in 1990
Judge Hal B. Greenwald at the Dutchess County Court sided with Robert Trump on Tuesday, ordering Simon & Schuster to refrain from 'publishing, printing or distributing' any copies of the book ahead of a hearing on July 10.  
Justice Sheinkman, however, said terms of Mary's confidentiality agreement could have changed due to her uncle's position as president.
Mary is one of two children by Fred Trump Jr (pictured), the president's older brother who died in 1981 after battling alcoholism.
Mary is one of two children by Fred Trump Jr (pictured), the president's older brother who died in 1981 after battling alcoholism.
'The legitimate interest in preserving family secrets may be one thing for the family of a real estate developer, no matter how successful. It is another matter for the family of the president of the United States,' he said. 
Although the restraining order has been lifted, the Trump family is expected to continue with their battle for an injunction.  
The Trumps have claimed that they will suffer 'irreparable harm' if the book is published, and that Mary breached her non-disclosure agreement by writing it.  
Mary is one of two children by Fred Trump Jr, the President's older brother who died in 1981 in his early 40s after battling alcoholism.
When Fred Sr died in 1999, Mary and her brother Fred Trump III challenged his will because they claimed that the Trump family exerted undue influence to cut them out.
Mary claimed in a lawsuit that in retaliation the Trumps ended healthcare for her side of the family.
In the application for the restraining order the Trumps say that everything was resolved in 2001 under a 'global' agreement.   
Read Mary Trump's full affidavit below: 

No comments:

Post a Comment