#Stephanie winston wolkoff david wolkoff free

The author said she worked with a pre-publishing lawyer and a First Amendment lawyer before “Melania and Me” was released to “be very careful about writing only what was verifiable, provable and within my rights.” Regarding the lawsuit, she said, “This is a blatant abuse of the Department to pursue Melania’s and Donald’s personal interests.” Wolkoff said she resigned in February 2018, the night before The New York Times published an article with the headline “Trump’s Inaugural Committee Paid First Lady’s Friend $26 Million,” which was later modified to “Trump’s Inaugural Committee Paid $26 Million to Firm of First Lady’s Adviser.” “…It was only for that time at the White House, and either she or I could cancel it at any time by telling each other.” “Melania then had to write a letter the next day that allowed me to speak on her behalf,” Wolkoff said. She said she signed another NDA in August 2017, when she signed up “as a trusted adviser and friend” who “was not allowed to say anything.”

Wolkoff said she had signed an NDA with the Presidential Inauguration Committee in December 2016 that ran through January 2017. I had no contract so their entire basis is meritless.” In an interview, Wolkoff said, “I didn’t have an NDA with Melania starting on Nov. We stand behind our author Stephanie Winston Wolkoff and her right to tell her story.” The Justice Department lawsuit alleges that Wolkoff’s services gave her access “to significant confidential information related to the First Lady’s official duties, as well as the more private aspects of her role in the first family, along with indirect access to deliberative information, to which the First Lady was privy, related to the president’s official duties on behalf of the country.”Īs of Friday, 192,000 copies of the book were in print after seven printings, according to a spokeswoman for Gallery Books/Simon & Schuster, which published “Melania and Me.” The spokeswoman said Wednesday, “The Justice Department’s action is a transparent attempt to use the government as a means of intimidation against authors.

#Stephanie winston wolkoff david wolkoff free

In regard to the lawsuit, Wolkoff said Wednesday she fulfilled all terms of the Gratuitous Service Agreement and has exercised her “right to free expression“ and “will not be deterred by these bullying tactics.” A Justice Department spokeswoman said Wednesday, “This is a contract with the United States and therefore enforceable by the United States.”Ī spokeswoman for the First Lady declined to comment on the suit on Wednesday.

This portrait is not at all flattering but it’s the truth and Americans deserve the truth about the occupants of the White House.” I wrote this book to share with the public my experience of working with Melania, our 15-year-friendship and her ultimate betrayal.

Wolkoff responded with a statement issued Saturday that read, “Yesterday, in response to my book ‘Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship With the First Lady,’ Melania Trump made a statement that said, ‘She hardly knew me.’ I find it puzzling that the First Lady of the United States asked someone she ‘hardly knew’ to attend her nuptials, join her for countless lunches, help plan the presidential inauguration, stay over at the White House and Mar-a-Lago, and act as her senior adviser. Stephanie Winston Wolkoff Jenna Greene/WWDįLOTUS also took aim at the media Friday morning, tweeting, “When the media chooses to focus on self-serving individuals and salacious gossip instead of work to help our next generation, it needs to be talked about.”