Donald Trump this week filed a $50 million lawsuit alleging that bestselling author Bob Woodward and his publisher Simon & Schuster breached the former president's copyright interests by publishing The Trump Tapes: The Historical Record, an audiobook based on interviews recorded for Woodward’s 2021 book Rage.
"This case centers on Mr. Woodward’s systematic usurpation, manipulation, and exploitation of audio of President Trump gathered in connection with a series of interviews conducted by Mr. Woodward," reads the complaint, filed in federal court in Pensacola, Fla. "Said audio was protected material, subject to various limitations on use and distribution—as a matter of copyright, license, contract, basic principles of the publishing industry, and core values of fairness and consent."
The suit seeks a declaratory judgment acknowledging Trump's "full copyright interest" in the recordings and the works derived from the recordings, and (based on some murky math) "compensatory, punitive damages and disgorgement" of at least $49,980,000.
In a joint statement, Woodward and his publisher rejected Trump's claims.
"Former President Trump’s lawsuit is without merit and we will aggressively defend against it," the statement reads. "All these interviews were on the record and recorded with President Trump's knowledge and agreement. Moreover, it is in the public interest to have this historical record in Trump's own words. We are confident that the facts and the law are in our favor."
The suit is the latest legal battle between Trump and S&S. In 2020, Trump's Department of Justice sued to block to block former national security adviser John Bolton’s memoir, The Room Where It Happened. The suit failed, and the book would go on to become a bestseller. After a year of litigation, the DOJ eventually dropped subsequent criminal and civil lawsuits against Bolton.
A month later, Trump unsuccessfully sued Simon & Schuster and his niece, author Mary Trump, in New York state court seeking to block publication of her memoir Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. The book would go on to sell more than a million copies.
Meanwhile, in a letter last week Trump threatened to sue Simon & Schuster and former New York criminal prosecutor Mark Pomerantz over the forthcoming publication of Pomerantz's People vs. Donald Trump: An Inside Account.
