Donald Trump's lawyer says he will try to stop publication of a book that portrays an inept President in a fumbling White House, threatening legal action against former top aide Steve Bannon over "defamatory" comments.
The book, Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House, by journalist Michael Wolff, set off a political firestorm with a portrayal of Mr Trump not wanting to win the 2016 election and being unprepared for the job.
Some of the harshest commentary allegedly came from former chief strategist Mr Bannon, who is quoted as describing a Trump Tower meeting between Donald Trump Jr, Jared Kushner, campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya as "treasonous" and "unpatriotic".
Mr Trump hit back yesterday, saying in a statement that when Mr Bannon was fired, "he not only lost his job, he lost his mind".
Charles Harder, Mr Trump's personal lawyer, sent a legal notice that warned of possible claims including libel against Wolff and publisher Henry Holt & Co.
He said they would try to block publication of the book.
Mr Harder also said "legal action is imminent" against Mr Bannon, who since leaving the White House in August has been back in his role as the head of alt-right website Breitbart.
A lawsuit could hurt Mr Trump, because Mr Bannon's lawyers would be entitled to interview White House officials and collect potentially damaging documents from them in his defence, Washington lawyer Bradley Moss said.
"I assume the cease-and-desist letter is aimed primarily at the public," added Michael Dorf, a professor at Cornell Law School.
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