Ready, fire, aim! One day after Donald Trump's lawyers sent a threatening letter to Steve Bannon concerning his quotes in a new Michael Wolff book that's as delectable as a lava cake oozing gooey details about a cratering White House, they doubled down with a threatening letter to the publisher of the book. CNN writes:
The legal letter, a copy of which was obtained by CNNMoney, demanded that the publisher "cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination" of the book "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House." [...]
[Trump attorney Charles] Harder's letter alleges that the book excerpts contain "false/baseless statements" about the president. The letter also uses the term "actual malice," raising the prospect of a libel or defamation case.
Legal experts said an actual lawsuit is highly unlikely. Nevertheless, the letter is a serious escalation in Trump's war against media outlets. Some journalism advocates said Trump's tactic was disturbing and compared it to an attempt at censorship. Others said the threat would backfire and help sell even more copies of the book.
Right. The book soared to No. 1 on Amazon's best-seller list as soon as the first excerpts dropped Wednesday. Just guessing a "cease and desist" order from His Orangeness will only spike people's interest. The publisher, Henry Holt, isn't going to give a second thought to running from that groundswell of interest.
Besides, Trump's a public figure, making any libel or defamation claim much harder to prove.
The letter says: "Mr. Trump hereby demands that you immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the Book, the Article, or any excerpts or summaries of either of them, to any person or entity, and that you issue a full and complete retraction and apology to my client as to all statements made about him in the Book and Article that lack competent evidentiary support."
Go ahead and hold your breath … we triple-dog dare you!