Former President Donald Trump may be all for freedom of speech when it comes to condemning gag orders in his criminal trials, but film producers who depicted his life in a new biopic should "cease and desist."
That's the message Trump's lawyers sent the maker of "The Apprentice" movie this week after the controversial film made its debut in Cannes, Variety was first to report.
“The film is a fair and balanced portrait of the former president,” responded producers. “We want everyone to see it and then decide.”
Trump's attorneys reportedly warned the film — which focuses on a young Trump's life under the mentorship of the notorious Roy Cohn — not to seek a distribution deal in the U.S.
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They've also claimed a scene that depicts Trump raping his late first wife, Ivana, never happened. Ivana, after the couple divorced, had said she was assaulted by Trump but took back her claim before she died, a Deadline report notes.
Trump has been found liable of sexually abusing writer E. Jean Carroll in the early 1990s.
The timing of the film's release is not ideal for a former president hoping to achieve what he failed to do in 2020, namely reclaim the White House.
His 2020 efforts are why Trump's many lawyers often find themselves making headlines: he faces two separate criminal trials in Georgia and Washington, D.C., on charges that he tried illegally to interfere.
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News of Trump's cease and desist letter spread like wildfire across the internet with help from the New York Times journalist Maggie Haberman.
She taunted Trump by quipping the legal step would ensure blockbuster sales across the nation.
Correction: An earlier version of this article referred to Donald Trump's first wife as Ivanka. Her name is Ivana.
