Donald Trump was terrorised by his father, niece claims in tell-all book

Donald Trump was terrorised by his father and feared the man's “anger” and “indifference”, the US president’s niece claims in a controversial new book at the centre of a legal battle.

Mary Trump, the daughter of Mr Trump’s late brother, alleges in her tall-all account of the family that her uncle was left scarred “for life” by his early childhood in New York.

She also claims that Mr Trump “dismissed and derided” his father, a successful property magnate, when he “began to succumb to Alzheimer’s”.

The claims surfaced on Monday when the book’s publishers Simon & Schuster both released an image of the back cover for the first time and sent a press release with more details.

They announced that the publication date for the book has been pulled forward two weeks to Tuesday July 14, despite a fierce battle playing out in the courts about its contents.

Lawyers for the Trump family are attempting to stop the book's release, arguing that Ms Trump would be violating a nondisclosure agreement if it is published.

The back cover for the book, which is called ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man’, was released on Monday.

It claims that Mr Trump lost his “main source of comfort and human contact” when his mother became ill when he was aged two and a half.

Instead Mr Trump had to turn to his father Fred, who the book claims worked 12 hours a day and six days a week, for his emotional support.

“From the beginning, Fred’s self-interest skewed his priorities, and his care of his children reflected his own needs, not theirs. He could not empathise with Donald’s plight, so his son’s fears and longings went unsoothed,” the book’s back cover says.

"Love meant nothing to Fred; he expected obedience, that was all. Over time, Donald became afraid that asking for comfort or attention would provoke his father's anger or indifference when Donald was most vulnerable."

"That Fred would become the primary source of Donald’s solace when he was much more likely to be a source of fear or rejection put Donald in an intolerable position: total dependence on a care-giver who also caused him terror. Donald suffered deprivations that would scar him for life."

It is unclear exactly what Ms Trump is basing her analysis of her uncle’s childhood on, given she was not around at the time.

Neither the White House nor Mr Trump immediately responded to the book cover, which was uploaded to Amazon’s page for the book.

Ms Trump is the daughter of Fred Trump Jr, the US president's older brother. He suffered from alcoholism and died three decades ago.

A press release from Simon & Schuster gave more details about the book’s contents as well as an insight into why Ms Trump feels she is well-placed to analyse the president’s character.

It quotes Ms Trump as saying: “In addition to the firsthand accounts I can give as my father’s daughter and my uncle’s only niece, I have the perspective of a trained clinical psychologist.”

The press release says the book will unpack the “toxic family” that made the US president and shed light on the “dark history" of the family.

It vows to unpack how Mr Trump allegedly came to believe “financial worth is the same as self-worth” and that “taking responsibility for your failures is discouraged”.

The statements in the book are likely to be strongly disputed from the US president, who has pushed back forcefully on a number of critical books about him released while in office.