A judge in New York on Tuesday granted a preliminary injunction that temporarily blocks President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, from publishing a tell-all book, The Hill reported.
The order from Judge Hal Greenwald of Dutchess County Supreme Court represents a win for Robert Trump, the President’s brother, in attempting to block the publication of the book, which is said to contain damaging allegations about the Trump family.
The judge in Dutchess County temporarily blocked the publication of the book while arguments in the case continue, ordering Mary Trump and her publisher, Simon & Schuster, or their attorneys, to appear in court on July 10.
Robert Trump had previously attempted to block the publication of the book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man,” in Queens County Surrogate Court but a judge dismissed it last week on jurisdictional grounds.
The book is slated to be released on July 28.
Ted Boutrous, Mary Trump’s attorney, said they would immediately appeal the order, calling it a violation of the First Amendment.
“The trial court’s temporary restraining order is only temporary but it still is a prior restraint on core political speech that flatly violates the First Amendment. We will immediately appeal,” Boutrous said, according to The Hill.
“This book, which addresses matters of great public concern and importance about a sitting president in an election year, should not be suppressed even for one day,” he added.
Attorneys for Simon & Schuster Tuesday afternoon filed a notice of appeal.
Robert Trump has argued that Mary Trump would be violating a nondisclosure agreement by publishing the book. The NDA was signed by Mary Trump, the President and other members of the Trump family as part of the settlement following litigation over the estate of the President’s father, Fred Trump.
President Trump told the Axios news website earlier this month that his niece was “not allowed to write a book.”
Charles Harder, an attorney for Robert Trump, said in a statement Tuesday that his client is “very pleased” with the injunction.
The book by Trump’s niece follows the tell-all book about Trump written by former National Security Adviser John Bolton.
Bolton’s 592-page book takes frequent shots at Trump, describing him as “erratic” and “foolish” and claiming he behaved “irrationally” and “bizarrely”.
The Justice Department sued to bar the book’s publication, claiming it contains classified information and that Bolton violated a non-disclosure agreement by writing the book. However, a federal US judge later ruled that Bolton can move forward in publishing the book.
In one excerpt of the book released before its publication, Bolton claims that Trump “pleaded” with Xi during a 2019 summit to help his reelection prospects.
In other sections of the book, Bolton further claimed that Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu felt serious concerns regarding Trump’s selection of his son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner to head up a team charged with drafting the administration’s Middle East peace plan. The claims were rejected by Netanyahu.