Breaking: Trump sent cease and desist letter to "The Art of the Deal" ghostwriter #RNCinCLE https://t.co/m0TjxcvZhq
— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 20, 2016
The co-author of Donald Trump’s bestselling book “The Art of the Deal” said Wednesday he has received a cease and desist letter from the Trump Organization’s chief legal officer.
The letter reportedly demands, among other things, that Tony Schwartz return all the royalty payments he received from the book.
{mosads}It comes after Schwartz slammed Trump in an interview with The New Yorker magazine published earlier this week where he harshly criticized the businessman.
“I got almost immediately that cease and desist letter delivered to me by FedEx and you know, it’s nuts and completely indicative of who he is,” Schwartz said Wednesday in an interview on MSNBC.
“There’s no basis in anything legal. I suspect that Donald Trump called up his chief legal person and said: ‘Go after that guy and do whatever you have to do.’ “
Schwartz said the “poor” head of legal affairs for the Trump Organization had to come up with “some facacta stuff, most of which is untrue.”
“So for example, this notion that I didn’t write the book is so preposterous,” he said.
“I am not certain that Donald Trump read every word, but I’m sure certain that I wrote every word … the idea that he would dispute that is part of why I felt I had to come forward. The notion that if he could lie about that, Rachel, he could lie about anything.”
In theinterview with The New Yorker, Schwartz said he “put lipstick on a pig” with the “Art of the Deal,” adding that he feels a “deep sense of remorse that I contributed to presenting Trump in a way that brought him wider attention and made him more appealing than he is.”
Schwartz said earlier this week that he “never in a million years” thought Trump would run for president.
“It’s a terrifying thing,” he said on ABC.
“I haven’t slept a night through since Donald Trump announced for president because I believe he is so insecure, so easily provoked and not particularly nearly as smart as people might imagine he is.”
He expressed concern about how Trump, the Republican nominee for president, would handle conflicts with world leaders and criticized Trump for his “short attention span.”