Donald Trump Threatens App With Legal Action For Using His Name

Donald Trump is not pleased with an app, which is asking people to pay almost $5 a week to access it and claiming that the former US President is on the platform, and so he has threatened it with legal action.

He has slapped the app, called 2nd1st, with a cease-and-desist letter. In the letter, Trump's attorney Nathan D. Groth accused the company of violating “numerous state and federal laws governing misappropriation and right of publicity,” according to New York Post. The letter further reads, “Specifically, it appears the 2nd1st application profile includes images implying President Donald J. Trump uses or otherwise endorses the application, which he does not."

The attorney wrote that the app's unauthorized use of Trump’s image, name and likeness is likely to make people believe that the former President has sponsored, authorized or approved it which is not the case. The letter dated Sept. 30 gave the company two days to “informally resolve this matter," and threatened to take other “legal action” if required. Trump's name and image were still on the app till Tuesday, and it appears his team has not yet taken any further action.

The app promotes itself as a place for “uncensored news and chat," and can be downloaded from Apple’s App Store. It features a screenshot of a fake post from him that is a copied-and-pasted version of a Jan. 8 tweet in which the former President, who is now banned from Twitter, said that those who voted for him “will have a giant voice long into the future.” The app also has his profile page with more posts, but his spokeswoman Liz Harrington said that he doesn’t use it.

Trump has been courted by other apps, including Gettr, a Twitter alternative by his former adviser Jason Miller. Another free speech app, Parler, is also trying to get him to join their platform.

Meanwhile, his company is reportedly negotiating to sell the lease for its luxury hotel in Washington, D.C., for more than $370 million, according to CNN. A source said that the Trump Organization is in advanced talks with Miami investment fund CGI Merchant Group.