A New York judge on Thursday threw out a lawsuit by Donald Trump’s younger brother to block publication of a tell-all book by Mary Trump, the president’s niece.
The suit suffered from “several improprieties” and was filed in the wrong court, which has no jurisdiction in the issue, ruled Queens County Surrogate’s Court Judge Peter Kelly.
Robert Trump had argued in the lawsuit that Mary Trump violated a nondisclosure agreement signed when the estate of his and the president’s late father, Fred Trump Sr., was settled in the court in1999. (Mary Trump’s father and the president’s older brother, Fred Trump Jr., died in 1981.)
Kelly pointed out several problems with the suit and noted that the nondisclosure agreement related to the settled probate case, which is now “non-existent” in Surrogate’s Court, Kelly wrote.
“Regardless of the outcome of this matter, the administration of this estate will not be impacted one iota,” he wrote.
Robert Trump’s attorney Charles Harder said he will file a new lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court.
Mary Trump’s book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” is set for publication July 28. It reportedly details “unsparing” and “salacious” information about the president and accuses Trump of mocking his late father’s struggles with Alzheimer’s disease before his death, which led to a bitter family war over his estate.
Earlier this month, The Daily Beast reported that Mary Trump was the source of a New York Times article on the financial tricks the president used to help his parents duck millions in taxes, which also benefited him financially.
Mary Trump’s lawyer Theodore Boutrous called the lawsuit a “baseless request to suppress a book of utmost public importance.” He added: “We hope this decision will end the matter. Democracy thrives on the free exchange of ideas, and neither this court nor any other has authority to violate the Constitution by imposing a prior restraint on core political speech.”