Trump lawyer sends cease-and-desist letter to Bannon: report

by Brandon Carter and Brett Samuels - 01/03/18 10:48 PM ET

President Trump’s lawyers sent a cease-and-desist letter to former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon Wednesday ordering him to refrain from making “disparaging statement” about Trump and his family, according to a new report.

ABC News reports the letter, from Trump attorney Charles Harder, accuses Bannon of breaching a non-disclosure agreement signed as part of working on Trump’s campaign.

{mosads}“You have breached the Agreement by, among other things, communicating with author Michael Wolff about Mr. Trump, his family members, and the Company [the Trump campaign], 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,” Harder wrote, according to ABC News.

The letter to Bannon also states that “remedies for your breach of the agreement include but are not limited to monetary damages.”

Harder is a well-known entertainment lawyer who previously represented Hulk Hogan in his case against Gawker Media, which Hogan won and ultimately led to Gawker filing for bankruptcy.

He also represented first lady Melania Trump in her defamation lawsuit against the Daily Mail, which was settled last year.

Harder later said in a statement to ABC that the law firm “represents President Donald J. Trump and Donald J. Trump for President Inc.” and issued legal notice to Bannon over his statements in Michael Wolff’s new book, “Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House.”

“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,” Harder said.

Excerpts from Wolff’s book were published Wednesday in New York Magazine.

In the excerpts, Bannon described a July 2016 meeting at Trump Tower that included Donald Trump Jr. and a Russian lawyer as “treasonous” and “unpatriotic.”

He also said he believed there was “zero” chance that the president was not aware of the meeting, which contradicts previous White House statements.

“They’re going to crack Don Jr. like an egg on national TV,” Bannon reportedly said.

Bannon, who was fired from his White House post in August, is quoted often in the excerpts as a central figure in Trump’s inner circle.

Trump blasted Bannon on Wednesday afternoon, painting him as someone who inflated his role within the administration.

“Steve pretends to be at war with the media, which he calls the opposition party, yet he spent his time at the White House leaking false information to the media to make himself seem far more important than he was,” the president said in a statement.