Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Donald Trump Demands Money Back After ‘Lipstick on a Pig’ Ghostwriter Speaks Out

Mere days after Tony Schwartz, Donald Trump’s Jewish ghostwriter, broke his silence to The New Yorker about his experience writing “The Art of the Deal,” and his assessment of Trump’s character, Trump’s campaign served Schwartz with a cease-and-desist letter.

“The fact that Trump would take time out of convention week to worry about a critic is evidence to me not only of how thin-skinned he is, but also of how misplaced his priorities are,” Schwartz wrote to The New Yorker in an email for a follow-up article.

Jason D. Greenblatt, the general counsel and vice president of the Trump organization, attacks Schwartz for multiple offenses, including using the “Book” to “further your own career,” of rewriting history, and influencing “the public with your defamatory comments.” Greenblatt writes that Trump is the only one responsible for the book’s success and demands Schwartz return the royalties he made since the book’s debut and to retract his critical statements.

Schwartz’s lawyer responded with an equally terse letter stating Schwartz has no intention of returning the royalties or taking back his criticisms.

Both letters are published in The New Yorker follow up article.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.