Trump demands 'Art of the Deal' ghostwriter return all royalties since 1987: MSNBC

MSNBC host Rachel Maddow confirmed during an interview with a former Donald Trump ghostwriter on Wednesday that the real estate mogul has sent a "cease-and-desist" letter to him demanding that he return the royalties from his work on The Art of the Deal.

"It is true," Tony Schwartz told Maddow. "I got almost immediately that cease-and-desist letter delivered to me by FedEx. It's nuts, and completely indicative of who he is."

Schwartz spoke out against the presumptive Republican presidential nominee earlier this week, saying that "if Trump wins and gets the nuclear codes there is an excellent possibility it will lead to the end of civilization."

He also said that he planned to donate his royalties from the book's sales this year to various advocacy groups, including Human Rights Watch and the Center for the Victims of Torture, among others. The letter from Trump's organization demands that Schwartz return the royalties he has earned since the book was published in 1987.

"There's no basis in anything legal," said Schwartz, who is also scheduled to be a panelist on Bill Maher's Real Time on Wednesday night.

Watch Maddow's interview with Schwartz, as aired on Wednesday, below.

Breaking: Trump sent cease and desist letter to "The Art of the Deal" ghostwriter #RNCinCLEhttps://t.co/m0TjxcvZhq

— Maddow Blog (@MaddowBlog) July 20, 2016