NEW YORK _ A Queens judge has tossed a legal effort by President Donald Trump's younger brother to block a tell-all book by the president's estranged niece _ though the legal battle will almost certainly continue in a different court.
Justice Peter Kelly wrote that Queens Surrogate's Court was not the proper forum for the fight over the book due out July 28.
"This controversy is a dispute regarding private rights and obligations which fall outside the parameters of ... the Surrogate's Court," Kelly wrote.
Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, was represented by attorney Charles Harder.
Harder, who has represented President Trump in legal battles with the media, vowed to re-file the lawsuit.
"Robert Trump, Mary Trump and the other family members who settled in 2001, agreed to jurisdiction of future disputes in the Surrogate's Court of Queens County, New York. This matter therefore was filed in that court. Today, the Surrogate's Court ruled that it does not have jurisdiction over the dispute. Therefore, Robert Trump will proceed with filing a new lawsuit in the Supreme Court of New York," Harder said.
Harder had argued the book, "Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man," violated a nondisclosure agreement related to the settlement of the estate of Fred Trump, the family's patriarch and Donald Trump's father.
"The court has promptly and correctly held that it lacks jurisdiction to grant the Trump family's baseless request to suppress a book of utmost public importance. 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," said attorney Ted Boutrous, who is representing Mary Trump.
