Trump’s fury at blunt

President’s lawyers send cease-anddesist letter to ex-aide Bannon

During his campaign and tumultuous first year in office, US President Donald Trump demonstrated little knowledge of policy details. He was not interested in advice that conflicted with his instincts, and it was often impossible for White House staff to figure out what course he wanted to take. One compared it to “trying to figure out what a child wants”.

The portrait that emerges in the new book Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff is hardly a flattering one.

The book essentially paints Trump as an unwitting buffoon who doesn’t read, can’t settle on political priorities and is unable to manage a warring cast of advisers who spend their days fighting. Trump is depicted as struggling to settle into his new reality and eagerly trying to maintain his normal golf habits.

As the first revelations from the book emerged, Trump unleashed on his former campaign chairman and chief strategist Steve Bannon.

Comments attributed to Bannon in the book drew the most attention yesterday, including a suggestion that a meeting during the campaign between Donald Trump jnr and a Russian lawyer was “treasonous”.

Trump lawyers sent a cease-anddesist letter to Bannon, arguing he had violated a non-disclosure agreement in speaking about his time on the campaign and in Trump's most trusted inner circle. The letter tells Bannon his comments violate Bannon's employment agreement that he signed with the Trump Organisation in numerous ways and also likely defame the president. A representative for Bannon had no immediate comment on the letter.

Earlier, Trump issued a long and unusual statement questioning Bannon’s mental stability, honesty and political influence. “Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my Presidency. When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind. Steve was a staffer who worked for me after I had already won the nomination by defeating seventeen candidates, often described as the most talented field ever assembled in the Republican Party.”

Trump continued: “Now that he is on his own, Steve is learning that winning isn’t as easy as I make it look. Steve had very little to do with our historic victory, which was delivered by the forgotten men and women of