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The U.S. Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against a former friend of First Lady Melania Trump, claiming a book she has written violates a confidentiality agreement.
According to the lawsuit, defendant Stephanie Winston Wolkoff’s Melania Trump tell-all book “is in flat violation of Ms. Wolkoff’s contractual obligations and fiduciary duties.”
However, Wolkoff stands by her decision to publish the book.
“The President and First Lady’s use of the U.S. Department of Justice to silence me is a violation of my First Amendment Rights and a blatant abuse of the government to pursue their own personal interests and goals,” Wolkoff said in a statement to CNN. “I fulfilled all of the terms of the Gratuitous Service Agreement and the confidentiality provisions ended when the White House terminated the agreement. With the publication of my book, ‘Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with The First Lady,’ I have exercised my right to free expression.”
Wolkoff volunteered to be a West Wing advisor to Melania Trump in 2017, the lawsuit states. In that capacity, she assisted the first lady on speeches and other matters. She was not paid for her time.
In August 2017, Wolkoff allegedly promised to keep nonpublic or privileged information confidential.
As part of this agreement, Wolkoff was “specifically prohibited from publishing, reproducing or otherwise divulging any such information to any unauthorized person or entity in whole or in part,” the lawsuit states.
The agreement also allegedly prohibited her from using or referencing her service to Melania Trump “in connection with any merchandising or other commercial activity.”
Any questions on the disclosure of such information were supposed to be directed to the office of White House Counsel.
The Melania Trump tell-all book was released Sept. 1 without Wolkoff ever submitting it to the first lady, her chief of staff, or to White House counsel, the lawsuit argues. Therefore, she was never given authorization to disclose the information contained in the book.
For these reasons, Wolkoff should not be entitled to any profits from the book’s publication, the Justice Department argues.
National security attorney Brad Moss told Politico the lawsuit was an “abuse of the Justice Department’s finite resources” because it was a personal lawsuit on behalf of Melania Trump.
“The case law has been expressly clear for decades that former officials cannot be contractually censored for anything other than classified information, and no amount of legal hairsplitting over Wolkoff’s ‘status’ as a volunteer is going to change that,” Moss said.
The Justice Department filed a similar lawsuit against former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton over his book “The Room Where It Happens,” according to CNN. That book detailed Bolton’s experience as White House national security adviser to President Donald Trump.
In the case of the Melania Trump tell-all book, the Justice Department seeks declarations that Wolkoff breached her contractual and fiduciary obligations; the imposition of a trust and a required accounting of “all monies, gains, profits, royalties, and other advantages” derived from the publication of the book, as well as from any reproduction of the book, including movie rights or documentaries; and any other relief deemed appropriate, such as attorneys’ fees and costs.
Have you read the Melania Trump tell-all book? What is your reaction to the book or to the lawsuit? Tell us your thoughts in the comments below.
The plaintiff is represented by acting assistant attorney general Jeffrey Bossert Clark; deputy assistant attorney general John V. Goghlan; Federal Programs Branch director Alexander K. Haas; and Jeffrey A. Hall and Elliott M. Davis, attorneys with the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Division.
The Melania Trump Tell-All Book Lawsuit is U.S. v. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, Case No. 1:20-cv-02935, in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
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