DOJ sues Melania Trump's former adviser for disclosures in her tell-all book

https://news.yahoo.com/doj-sues-melania-trumps-former-205534140.html

by Kyle Cheney
,Politico•October 13, 2020

The Justice Department on Tuesday sued Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former adviser and confidant of first lady Melania Trump, alleging she breached a nondisclosure agreement when she published a scathing tell-all about her experiences inside the East Wing earlier this year.

Though she only served in the White House briefly, DOJ says her non-disclosure agreement "included no termination date," a notable restriction that Winston Wolkoff is likely to challenge on First Amendment grounds.

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The lawsuit quickly reignited fears among some outside legal experts that the Justice Department was training its resources at the White House's perceived enemies.

“This is a complete abuse of the Justice Department’s finite resources to bring a personal lawsuit on behalf of the First Lady against a former advisor," said Brad Moss, a national security attorney. "The case law has been expressly clear for decades that former officials cannot be contractually censored for anything other than classified information, and no amount of legal hairsplitting over Wolkoff’s ‘status’ as a volunteer is going to change that.”

The lawsuit is the latest move by the Justice Department to intervene in disputes between the Trumps and their former aides, such as ex-national security adviser John Bolton, who is fighting a lawsuit that claims he disclosed classified information in his explosive tell-all, "The Room Where it Happened."

But unlike Bolton, the government doesn't allege Winston Wolkoff disclosed any classified material. Rather, the suit suggests she disclosed details about the deliberations behind Melania Trump's "Be Best" initiative to combat cyberbullying, as well as personnel decisions that the first lady discussed with the president.

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