Publisher: Trump effort to suppress book "flagrantly unconstitutional"
WASHINGTON - The publisher of a book that questions  President Trump 's fitness for office said any effort by  Mr. Trump  to suppress the book would be "flagrantly unconstitutional."
In a letter to company employees Monday and shared with CBS News  Macmillan CEO John Sargent wrote "no American court" would go along with  President Trump  should  he  sue to have "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House"  withdrawn.
" The president  is free to call news "fake" and to blast the media " Sargent wrote. "But a demand to cease and desist publication - a clear effort by the President of the United States to intimidate a publisher into halting publication of an important book on the workings of the government - is an attempt to achieve what is called prior restraint."
Macmillan is the parent organization of Henry Holt and Company  which released the book  by author Michael Wolff. A  Trump  lawyer last week sent a cease and desist letter to the publisher  demanding it be withheld. Holt responded by moving up the release date from Jan. 9 to last Friday.
In the letter released to employees Monday  Sargent said that the company would send a formal response to  Trump  later in the day.
Wolff's book portrays  the 45th president  as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of  his  office and whose competence is questioned by aides.
Former  Trump Campaign  CEO and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was widely quoted. In one instance  he describes a meeting between Donald Trump Jr.  senior campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic". The reference angered the president  who last week said Bannon "lost his mind."
Over the weekend  the president's allies attacked the book in a round of television appearances Sunday. Chief policy adviser Stephen Miller  in a combative appearance Sunday on CNN  described the book as "nothing but a pile of trash through and through." While  the president  countered the book's claims by tweeting that  he  is a "stable genius " and said "Fire and Fury" is a "fake book."
"I think he probably had no idea he was speaking to me for this book. When I would meet  the president  in the White House  we would chat as though we were friends " Wolff said. "I have sat down with the president for extended periods of interviews. But there are other periods -- and that's essentially what he's saying. They're trying to parse this  saying  'Oh  I didn't know I was speaking to him when I saw him in the White House.'"
WASHINGTON - The publisher of  [TGT] Mr. Trump  to suppress  [TGT]  would be "flagrantly unconstitutional."
In a letter to company employees Monday and shared with CBS News  Macmillan CEO John Sargent wrote "no American court" would go along with  [TGT] should   [TGT]   sue to have "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House"  withdrawn.
" The president  is free to call news "fake" and to blast the media " Sargent wrote. "But a demand to cease and desist publication - a clear effort by the President of the United States to intimidate a publisher into halting publication of an important book on the workings of the government - is an attempt to achieve what is called prior restraint."
Macmillan is the parent organization of Henry Holt and Company  which released the book  by author Michael Wolff. A   [TGT]   lawyer last week sent a cease and desist letter to the publisher  demanding it be withheld. Holt responded by moving up the release date from Jan. 9 to last Friday.
In the letter released to employees Monday  Sargent said that the company would send a formal response to  Trump  later in the day.
Wolff's book portrays  the 45th president  as a leader who doesn't understand the weight of  his  office and whose competence is questioned by aides.
Former  Trump Campaign  CEO and White House Chief Strategist Steve Bannon was widely quoted. In one instance  he describes a meeting between Donald Trump Jr.  senior campaign aides and a Russian lawyer as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic". The reference angered the president  who last week said Bannon "lost his mind."
Over the weekend  the president's allies attacked the book in a round of television appearances Sunday. Chief policy adviser Stephen Miller  in a combative appearance Sunday on CNN  described the book as "nothing but a pile of trash through and through." While  the president  countered the book's claims by tweeting that  he  is a "stable genius " and said "Fire and Fury" is a "fake book."
"I think he probably had no idea he was speaking to me for this book. When I would meet  the president  in the White House  we would chat as though we were friends " Wolff said. "I have sat down with the president for extended periods of interviews. But there are other periods -- and that's essentially what he's saying. They're trying to parse this  saying  'Oh  I didn't know I was speaking to him when I saw him in the White House.'"