Trump's lawyers hit Steve Bannon with cease-and-desist over tell-all book

Lawyers representing Donald Trump have issued former chief strategist Steve Bannon a cease-and-desist notice, accusing him of having violated a non-disclosure agreement when speaking to author Michael Wolff.

Wolff's forthcoming tell-all book has Bannon saying that the Trump campaign was shocked and horrified by its election win, leading his wife, Melania, to break down in tears on election night, that the new president found the White House to be "vexing and even a little scary", and that the infamous Trump Tower meeting between Donald Jr and a group of Russians was treasonous.

Trump responded by claiming that Bannon had simply "lost his mind" after leaving his post at the White House.

"Steve Bannon has nothing to do with me or my presidency," he said on Wednesday. "When he was fired, he not only lost his job, he lost his mind."

However, Trump's lawyers claim the former aide was guilty of breaking his employment agreement by speaking to Wolff and "disclosing confidential information", as well as "making disparaging statements and in some cases outright defamatory statements".

Wolff's book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House has reportedly sourced information from over 200 interviews and reportedly took advantage of the administration's political inexperience to gain an unprecedented amount of insight.