Key aides tried to talk President Trump out of threatening legal action against Michael Wolff's new book, Fire and Fury, and "lawyers laughed: Does Trump really want to give discovery to Michael Wolff?" Axios reports, but nevertheless, he persisted, insisting on "a tactic he frequently used in business — rattling cages with lawyers' letters that resulted in no actual legal action." Now that Wolff's publisher, Henry Holt, responded to Trump's demand that it cease publication by moving up the publication date to Friday morning, Trump is "so furious" that "some aides are just trying to avoid him," Axios says. On Friday's Today show, Wolff wasn't upset at Trump's legal threat, asking, "Where do I send the box of chocolates?"
"Not only is he helping me sell books, but he’s proving the point of the book," Wolff told NBC's Savannah Guthrie. "This is extraordinary that a president of the United States would try to stop the publication of a book." No other president has ever tried this, he said, and it "would not even happen from the CEO of a midsize company." Watch below. Peter Weber
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
House posts lewd Epstein note attributed to TrumpSpeed Read The estate of Jeffrey Epstein turned over the infamous 2003 birthday note from President Donald Trump
-
Supreme Court allows 'roving' race-tied ICE raidsSpeed Read The court paused a federal judge's order barring agents from detaining suspected undocumented immigrants in LA based on race
-
South Korea to fetch workers detained in Georgia raidSpeed Read More than 300 South Korean workers detained in an immigration raid at a Hyundai plant will be released
-
DC sues Trump to end Guard 'occupation'Speed Read D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb argues that the unsolicited military presence violates the law
-
RFK Jr. faces bipartisan heat in Senate hearingSpeed Read The health secretary defended his leadership amid CDC turmoil and deflected questions about the restricted availability of vaccines
-
White House defends boat strike as legal doubts mountSpeed Read Experts say there was no legal justification for killing 11 alleged drug-traffickers
-
Epstein accusers urge full file release, hint at own listspeed read A rally was organized by Reps. Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie, who are hoping to force a vote on their Epstein Files Transparency Act
-
Court hands Harvard a win in Trump funding battleSpeed Read The Trump administration was ordered to restore Harvard's $2 billion in research grants
