Bannon's dig targeted Trump Jr., writer says

Publisher: Suppressing book illegal

In this April 12, 2017, file photo, Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter speaks at the Newseum in Washington.
In this April 12, 2017, file photo, Michael Wolff of The Hollywood Reporter speaks at the Newseum in Washington.

WASHINGTON -- The author of a new book that questions President Donald Trump's fitness for office on Monday contradicted Steve Bannon's explanation of comments that had angered his former boss. The book publisher said any effort by Trump to suppress the book would be "flagrantly unconstitutional."

Michael Wolff, author of Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, took issue with a Bannon mea culpa issued Sunday, in which Trump's former chief strategist sought to make amends for his comments.

In the book, Bannon describes a meeting between Donald Trump Jr., senior campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic." The reference angered the president, who last week lashed out at Bannon, saying he "lost his mind."

Bannon sought to make amends Sunday, saying in a statement that his description wasn't aimed at Trump's son but at former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort.

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But Wolff told MSNBC's Morning Joe: "It was not directed at Manafort, it was directed directly at Don. Jr."

Meanwhile, the publisher of Fire and Fury said any efforts to suppress the book are "flagrantly unconstitutional."

In a letter to company employees Monday and shared with The Associated Press, Macmillan CEO John Sargent wrote "no American court" would go along with Trump should he sue to have Fire and Fury withdrawn.

Macmillan is the parent organization of Henry Holt and Co., which released the book. A Trump lawyer last week sent a cease and letter to the publisher, demanding it be withheld. Holt responded by moving up the release date from today to last Friday.

Later in the day, the publisher responded to Trump's lawyer in a defiant letter, saying the company has no plans to withdraw it or apologize as the controversy surrounding it has continued to fuel sales.

"My clients do not intend to cease publication, no [retraction] will occur and no apology is warranted," wrote Elizabeth A. McNamara, the attorney for Holt.

Trump's attorney, Charles Harder, had threatened legal action, including a libel lawsuit, if the publisher failed to "immediately cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination of the book" or excerpts and summaries of its contents. Trump's representative also accused Bannon of breaching a confidentiality agreement by giving Wolff interviews.

Wolff's book portrays the 45th president as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of his office and whose competence is questioned by aides. It has sparked anger in Trump's camp, and the president's allies attacked the book in a round of television appearances Sunday.

On Sunday, two days after the book's release, WikiLeaks tweeted a link to an electronic image of the text. Posting the text of a book without permission would violate copyright restrictions and potentially damage sales. Yet, hours after WikiLeaks tweeted the link, Fire and Fury remained No. 1 on Amazon's lists of hardcover and ebook bestsellers.

"We're commencing to sell as many books as we can," said Sargent in an interview Monday. "We have multiple printings at multiple printers now and all of our suppliers are doing a remarkable job of getting books into the marketplace. They all realize the importance of this book as a commercial success but they also recognize the huge importance of reading a book the government is trying to stop."

Sargent was almost gleeful about the controversy whipped up by Trump and White House officials, saying the publicity it has generated has propelled sales. The publisher now has orders for more than 1 million hardcover copies, making it the bestselling nonfiction book in Holt's 151-year history, he said.

Its sales prospects are so strong that Holt has no plans at the moment to publish a paperback edition; Sargent said he expected the hardcover version to sell well for the next two years.

The White House and Trump have disputed Wolff's characterization of the president as mentally unfit for office. Trump has tweeted that he is, "like, really smart" and even "a very stable genius."

McNamara, the publisher's lawyer, wrote in her letter to Harder that "we have no reason to doubt... that Mr. Wolff's book is an accurate report on events of vital public importance. Mr. Trump is the President of the United States, with the 'bully pulpit' at his disposal. To the extent he disputes any statement in the book, he has the largest platform in the world to challenge it."

She noted that any lawsuit filed against the publisher would open Trump up to discovery that could reveal information that Trump has declined to disclose.

"Should you pursue litigation against Henry Holt or Mr. Wolff, we are quite confident that documents related to the contents of the book in the possession of President Trump, his family members, his businesses, his campaign, and his administration will prove particularly relevant to our defense," she wrote.

Trump has a long history of threatening legal action against news organizations that published articles that displeased him in some way. The list includes The Washington Post, The New York Times, The Associated Press, Rolling Stone, NBC News, USA Today and the Village Voice. In each case, he didn't follow up.

Bannon

Bannon's apology for his comments trashing Donald Trump's family did little to tamp down the president's anger at his former chief strategist, according to a half dozen sources who said the president demanded a choice from supporters of both men: You're either with Bannon, or with me.

Trump's aides are tracking who came out with full-throated criticism of Bannon over the weekend, and they put out the word that the president is keeping score.

In his statement Sunday, Bannon praised Trump Jr. as "both a patriot and a good man."

"I regret that my delay in responding to the inaccurate reporting regarding Don Jr has diverted attention from the president's historical accomplishments in the first year of his presidency," Bannon said in the statement, which was first obtained by the news site Axios.

Bannon may have hoped his apology would begin to put the episode behind him. Sources describe almost the exact opposite: Trump remains angry at the disloyalty of his former strategist, and is forcing a him-or-me moment inside his inner circle and the Republican Party as a whole.

"I don't know if it's ever repairable," said Matt Schlapp, the chairman of the American Conservative Union, who has been friends with Bannon for two decades. "These wounds are pretty deep."

A White House spokesman said on Monday that there's no "way back" for Bannon after his comments.

Hogan Gidley said he doesn't "believe there's any way back for Mr. Bannon at this point." He added that Trump's criticism of Wolff's book still stands, saying, "it was obvious that the book was false and fake."

Gidley spoke to reporters Monday aboard Air Force One as Trump traveled to Nashville, Tenn.

The implications for Trump's agenda are stark: at a moment when he needs maximum coordination to push through infrastructure, welfare overhauls and funding for the U.S.-Mexico border wall, he's at war with the leader of the party's activist base -- the very voters who propelled Trump to the White House in 2016.

It also comes after key financial backers Rebekah Mercer and Sheldon Adelson cut ties, and questions simmered about Bannon's continued role at Breitbart, the conservative news website. These could doom his efforts to oust mainstream Republican incumbents in Congress and replace them with nationalist or anti-establishment alternatives.

"He may or may not know it, but the only way he is relevant to anyone other than the people he pays is if Trump lets him be," said Fred Brown, a crisis communications strategist and former GOP spokesman. "The fact that Bannon was dumb enough to make people choose between him and the president shows he has a more delusional opinion of himself than even Trump does."

Information for this article was contributed by Jill Colvin, Catherine Lucey and Hillel Italie of The Associated Press; by Paul Farhi of The Washington Post; and by Margaret Talev, Jennifer Jacobs, Kevin Cirilli, Ros Krasny, Ben Brody and Jordan Yadoo of Bloomberg News.

A Section on 01/09/2018

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