NEW YORK - Donald Trump has sued the author who wrote that he had exaggerated his wealth and was no more than just a millionaire with a net worth of $250 million. The book in question, “TrumpNation: The Art of Being the Donald” was written by New York Times reporter Timothy O’Brien and was published by Warner Books.

Trump has dragged both the author and the publisher for publishing defamatory statements. “Rather than sitting back and letting false statements be published without challenge, I believe it is important to expose irresponsible, malicious and false reporting,” Trump said in a statement.

The lawsuit filed in New Jersey seeks $5 billion in “compensatory and punitive damages” from Warner Books and O’Brien. The book says that Trump is nowhere close to being a billionaire and that he was worth “somewhere between $150 million and $250 million.”

The statements apparently touched a nerve in Trump, who is also famous for his reality show “The Apprentice.” Trump said that the publisher and the author were both aware of what they were saying, “The writer and publisher of this book knew full well that their statements were false and malicious, but in hopes of generating book sales, they did not care,” he said. “In so doing, they exposed themselves to this lawsuit.” He added that the book was terribly written.

But Rob Nissen, a spokesman for Warner Books said that Trump willingly collaborated in helping O’Brien write the book, “Mr. O’Brien is an award-winning, veteran business reporter with The New York Times and his work, as does his book, ‘TrumpNation,’ speak for themselves,” he said.

But Trump’s lawyers say that they have solid evidence of their client’s wealth, courtesy, the Forbes magazine, “Forbes Magazine rigorously analyzed the very same books and records and other financial data that O’Brien and Warner chose to ignore, and concluded that Trump’s net worth conservatively is at least $2.7 billion,” they said in a statement.