Day 350: Cease and desist.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

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1/ Steve Bannon received a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyer accusing him of breaching his confidentiality agreement by making "disparaging" and "outright defamatory statements" about Trump and his family. The letter comes after excerpts...

Visit WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.

Thursday, January 4, 2018

Subscribe: Get the Daily Update in your inbox for free

1/ Steve Bannon received a cease and desist letter from Trump's lawyer accusing him of breaching his confidentiality agreement by making "disparaging" and "outright defamatory statements" about Trump and his family. The letter comes after excerpts from Michael Wolff's book were made public, with Bannon calling the Trump Tower meeting with Russians "treasonous," "unpatriotic," and "bad shit." During the campaign, Trump had staffers sign a non-disclosure agreement which required all staff to refrain from making any disparaging comments about Trump, his family, or the campaign. (ABC News)

2/ Trump's lawyer also demanded that Michael Wolff and his publisher immediately "cease and desist from any further publication, release or dissemination" of the forthcoming book. Trump's lawyers are pursuing possible charges, including libel, in connection with the book, "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House," which is scheduled to be released Friday – four days earlier than planned. (Washington Post / ABC News)

3/ Michael Wolff has tapes to back up the quotes in his book, including conversations with Steve Bannon and former White House deputy chief of staff Katie Walsh. On Twitter, Wolff thanked Trump for making his book the current best seller on Amazon. (Axios)

Here we go. You can buy it (and read it) tomorrow. Thank you, Mr. President.

— Michael Wolff (@MichaelWolffNYC) January 4, 2018

Senior White House officials are debating whether Katie Walsh should be fired from America First after she was quoted as reportedly saying that dealing with Trump is "like trying to figure out what a child wants." Walsh, a former White House adviser, has disputed the comment. (Axios)

4/ Breitbart board members are debating whether to fire Steve Bannon. Earlier in the day, Sarah Huckabee Sanders suggested that Breitbart News should consider removing its executive chairman. But that's not all, Bannon's billionaire benefactors, Robert Mercer and his daughter Rebekah Mercer, formally cut financial ties with Bannon today. (Wall Street Journal / Politico)

WTF Just Happened Today? for more news and headlines, brought to you by Matt Kiser. The WTFJHT Podcast is narrated and produced by Joe Amditis.