Trump's brother loses attempt to gag niece's tell-all book

A new tell'all book is due out in July.
A new tell'all book is due out in July. Photo credit: Getty

The Trump family has lost an attempt to halt the publication of a tell-all book by the President's niece Mary.

Clinical psychologist Mary Trump's book Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man is due out on July 28 and the publishers say it will be "a nightmare of traumas, destructive relationships, and a tragic combination of neglect and abuse".

Mary is the daughter of Fred Trump Jnr, the eldest of the three Trump brothers. 

But Donald Trump's younger brother Robert requested the restraining order on Tuesday saying the book would violate a nondisclosure agreement.

Mary signed the agreement in 2001 as part of family patriarch Fred Trump Snr's will settlement, the Guardian reported.

In an interview last week the President agreed saying: "[Mary's] not allowed to write a book". 

"You know, when we settled with her and her brother, who I do have a good relationship with…she…signed a nondisclosure."

But on Thursday New York surrogate court judge Peter Kelly said "several improprieties" in the filing meant the bid to stop the book was "fatally defective".

It comes after Robert had to refile the application too due to not paying the US$45 fee.

Mary's lawyer praised the court's decision against "the Trump family's baseless request to suppress a book of utmost public importance and concern.

“We hope this decision will end the matter. Democracy thrives on the free exchange of ideas, and neither this court nor any other has authority to violate the constitution by imposing a prior restraint on core political speech.”

But the Trumps may continue to pursue legal action, as Kelly suggested they might bring the case to the supreme court.