President Trump’s attorneys have warned Steve Bannon that “litigation is imminent.”
The statement came in a cease-and-desist letter sent from lawyer Charles J. Harder to Trump’s former top adviser after excerpts from an upcoming book by journalist Michael Wolff were made public Wednesday.
“This law firm represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President, Inc. On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients. Legal action is imminent,” the letter said, according to ABC News.
“You [Bannon] have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, disclosing Confidential Information to Mr. Wolff, and making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements to Mr. Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company, knowing that they would be included in Mr. Wolff’s book and publicity surrounding the marketing and sale of his book,” Harder went on to state.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump didn’t mince words in sharing his current opinion of Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist for the first seven months of his term.
“Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said in a statement. “Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating 17 candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican Party.”
Trump’s statement comes after The Guardian reported that the upcoming Michael Wolff book “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House” quotes Bannon blasting Trump Jr.’s decision to meet with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer at Trump Tower during the campaign in 2016 as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”
Bannon was fired as Trump’s chief strategist in August and returned to leading Breitbart News, the organization he left in summer 2016 to lead Trump’s presidential campaign.
According to ABC News, during his presidential campaign, Trump had all campaign staff sign a non-disclosure agreement which required them to refrain from any disparaging comments against the candidate, his family or the Trump campaign and organization.