--- title: Trump Hits Bannon with Cease and Desist Letter: Reports description: Trump's lawyers have reportedly served Steve Bannon a cease and desist letter, threatening legal damages. canonical: https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/ author: Eli Meixler article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-01-04T07:10:13.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T18:44:09.668Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Hits Bannon With a 'Cease-and-Desist Letter' og:description: "Legal action is imminent," a statement from Trump's lawyers reportedly said. og:url: https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f5c7304541a7f3/6988f70dfb4eacfdeb8952b7/steve-bannon-donald-trump-cease-desist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in Washington, DC. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Hits Bannon With a 'Cease-and-Desist Letter' twitter:description: "Legal action is imminent," a statement from Trump's lawyers reportedly said. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f5c7304541a7f3/6988f70dfb4eacfdeb8952b7/steve-bannon-donald-trump-cease-desist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # President Trump's Lawyers Have Sent Steve Bannon a Cease-and-Desist Letter, Reports Say > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=f1e792dd-f9dc-43dc-8a18-8e13bd05d682&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 4, 2018 7:10 AM UTC  Presidential advisor Steve Bannon during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February, 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Presidential advisor Steve Bannon during a panel discussion at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) on February, 23, 2017 in Washington, DC. Bill O'Leary—The Washington Post/Getty Images by [Eli Meixler](https://time.com/author/eli/) ## Eli Meixler Jan 4, 2018 7:10 AM UTC Lawyers for President Donald Trump reportedly served Steve Bannon with a [cease-and-desist letter](http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-attorney-sends-bannon-cease-desist-letter-disparaging/story?id=52128555) on Jan. 3, threatening legal damages and demanding that Bannon avoid making defamatory comments about the president and first family as details from an upcoming book begin to be released. The letter cited an upcoming book about Trump’s first year as president by journalist Michael Wolff, _Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House_, in which Trump’s lawyers allege Bannon made “outright defamatory statements” and revealed “confidential information,” ABC News reports. Bannon, along with all Trump campaign staff, was made to sign a [nondisclosure agreement](https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-slams-bannon-when-he-was-fired-he-not-only-lost-his-job-he-lost-his-mind/2018/01/03/21fb158a-f0aa-11e7-b3bf-ab90a706e175%5Fstory.html), which Trump’s lawyers argue Bannon violated in speaking with Wolff for the book. “On behalf of our clients, legal notice was issued today to Stephen K. Bannon, that his actions of communicating with author Michael Wolff regarding an upcoming book give rise to numerous legal claims including defamation by libel and slander, and breach of his written confidentiality and non-disparagement agreement with our clients,” Trump attorney Charles J. Harder of Harder Mirell & Abrams LLP said in the statement cited by ABC. “Legal action is imminent,” he added. Trump himself has also weighed-in on the highly anticipated book, which is slated for publication next month, and in which Bannon suggests that a meeting between Donald Trump, Jr. and a Russian lawyer was “treasonous.” In a Jan. 3 statement, Trump downplayed the influence of Bannon, his former National Security advisor and campaign chairman, who left the White House in August. “When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind,” Trump said, [blasting his former chief strategist](http://time.com/5086254/trump-steve-bannon-book/), who he dismissed as merely “a staffer” who had come on after Trump had already secured the Republican primary nomination. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/"},"headline":"President Trump's Lawyers Have Sent Steve Bannon a Cease-and-Desist Letter, Reports Say","datePublished":"2018-01-04T07:10:13.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T18:44:09.668Z","description":"\"Legal action is imminent,\" a statement from Trump's lawyers reportedly said","url":"https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/","keywords":["White House","Donald Trump","onetime","steve bannon","overnight"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f5c7304541a7f3/6988f70dfb4eacfdeb8952b7/steve-bannon-donald-trump-cease-desist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Eli Meixler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/eli/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt98f5c7304541a7f3/6988f70dfb4eacfdeb8952b7/steve-bannon-donald-trump-cease-desist.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in Washington, DC.","caption":"At the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), in Washington, DC.","creditText":"Bill O'Leary—The Washington Post/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5087256/donald-trump-steve-bannon-cease-desist-wolff-book/","name":"President Trump's Lawyers Have Sent Steve Bannon a Cease-and-Desist Letter, Reports Say"}}]}] ```