On the eve of the 2020 election, Robert Trump — the president’s younger brother — is stepping forward to help the Trump re-election campaign.
But he won’t be giving campaign speeches. Instead, he’s battling on behalf of the Trump family in court.
President Donald Trump’s brother is asking a New York City judge to prevent his niece from publishing a tell-all book that is timed to capitalize off the election, expected to be released later this month.
Robert Trump rushed home from a 10-day stay at the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai hospital — where he was being treated for a “serious issue” — to file the court papers.
Robert Trump’s lawyers argue that Mary Trump and others in the Trump family had signed a settlement agreement in the late 1990s that included a confidentially clause explicitly saying they would not “publish any account concerning the litigation or their relationship,” unless they all agreed.
The settlement agreement related to the will of Donald Trump’s father, New York real estate developer Fred Trump.
“Confidentiality was at the essence of the Settlement agreement,” the court papers say.
Robert Trump argues the publication of the book is prohibited by the settlement agreement reached in 2001 and he never consented to it being published. Mary Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., the president’s older brother, who died in 1981.
A description of the book — titled “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man” — on Amazon says it describes “a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse.”
The motion seeks an injunction to prevent Mary Trump and the book’s publisher, Simon & Schuster, from releasing it.
“President Trump and his siblings are seeking to suppress a book that will discuss matters of utmost public importance,” attorney Theodore Boutrous Jr., a representative for Mary Trump, said in a statement.
In his own statement, Robert implied the book was sensationalized and timed to capitalize on the 2020 presidential election.
“Her attempt to sensationalize and mischaracterize our family relationship after all of these years for her own financial gain is both a travesty and injustice to the memory of my late brother, Fred, and our beloved parents,” Robert’s statement to The New York Times said. “I and the rest of my entire family are so proud of my wonderful brother, the president, and feel that Mary’s actions are truly a disgrace.”
The White House declined to comment Tuesday on the book or the legal motion.
The Associated Press contributed to this article