Melania Trump: Justice Department sues author of book on First Lady for 'breach of non-disclosure agreement'

The US Justice Department on Tuesday has accused the author of a tell-all book about Melania Trump of breaking a non-disclosure agreement and asked a court to set aside the book's profits.

In a complaint filed in a US District Court in Washington, Justice Department lawyers said Stephanie Winston Wolkoff, a former aide who fell out with the First Lady, failed to submit to government review a draft of her book, Melania and Me: The Rise and Fall of My Friendship with the First Lady, which offers an unflattering portrayal of President Donald Trump's wife.

The complaint said the Justice Department has jurisdiction in the case because of the First Lady's traditional public role dating back to Martha Washington, wife of the first US president, George Washington.

The US Government asked that any profits Ms Winston Wolkoff might receive from the book and subsequent movie deal or documentaries be set aside into a "constructive trust" with the monies ultimately going to the Treasury Department.

Lawyers for Ms Winston Wolkoff were not immediately available to respond to a request for comment from Reuters.

Published six weeks ago, the book was for a time on the New York Times bestseller list.

"The United States seeks to hold Ms Winston Wolkoff to her contractual and fiduciary obligations and to ensure that she is not unjustly enriched by her breach of the duties she freely assumed when she served as an adviser to the first lady," said a copy of the complaint seen by Reuters.

It says Ms Winston Wolkoff and Mrs Trump in August 2017 sealed a "Gratuitous Services Agreement" related to “nonpublic, privileged and/or confidential information” that she might obtain during her service under the agreement.

"This was a contract with the United States and therefore enforceable by the United States," said Justice Department spokeswoman Kerri Kupec.

The Government action was similar to Justice Department attempts to stop publication of a book released in June by Mr Trump's former national security adviser John Bolton.

Mr Bolton was accused of divulging national security secrets, a charge he denied. Publication went ahead and a court battle continues over his book, The Room Where It Happened.

Ms Winston Wolkoff's tenure at the White House ended in early 2018 after it was disclosed that her company had received $26 million to help plan Mr Trump's inauguration in January 2017.