Sorry, President Trump. Publisher Henry Holt has no intention of shelving author Michael Wolff’s new Trump administration tell-all book “Fire and Fury.”
“My clients do not intend to cease publication, no such retraction will occur, and no apology is warranted,” the publisher’s attorney, Elizabeth A. McNamara, said in a letter to Trump attorney Charles Harder, a copy of which Henry Holt provided to TheWrap.
On Friday, Harder sent a cease-and-desist letter to Holt, demanding that the company cease “further publication, release or dissemination” of “Fire and Fury,” and that it “issue a full and complete retraction and apology” for what said are “false/baseless statements” made about Trump
McNamara says however that the book has the full confidence of its publisher. “We have no reason to doubt … that Mr. Wolff’s book is an accurate report on events of vital public importance,” McNamara wrote. “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.”
McNamara says that, though her clients “do not adopt or subscribe” to the Harder’s issues with the book, they “will comply with any and all document preservation obligations that the law imposes on them.”
“At the same time, we must remind you that President Trump, in his personal and governmental capacity, must comply with the same legal obligations regarding himself, his family members, their businesses, the Trump campaign, and his administration, and must ensure all appropriate measures to preserve such documents are in place,” the letter continued. “This would include any and all documents pertaining to any of the matters about which the book reports.”
“Should you pursue litigation against Henry Holt or Mr. Wolff,” McNamara added, “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.”
Earlier on Monday, John Sargent, the CEO of Macmillan, the parent company of Henry Holt, underlined their “firm” response to POTUS in a memo to employees obtained by TheWrap. Sargent wrote, it “is a matter of great importance” and about “much more” than just the book.