Donald Trump has broken his silence on the death of his sister Maryanne Trump Barry, a former judge who passed away at the age of 86.
Ms Trump Barry was appointed by President Ronald Reagan in 1983 to serve as a judge on the US District Court of New Jersey, and subsequently by President Bill Clinton to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in 1999.
She assumed a semi-retired senior status in 2011 and took inactive senior status in 2017, shortly after her brother was sworn in as the nation’s 45th chief executive. She officially retired in 2019.
“My great sister, Maryanne, passed away yesterday at the age of 86,” Mr Trump wrote on Truth Social on Tuesday. “A truly beautiful woman, tall and elegant, with a presence like no other, she was also a tremendous student, intellect, and Judge, in charge of the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit, just below the U.S. Supreme Court.”
“Her life was largely problem free, PERFECT, until I made it difficult for her when I decided to run for President,” he added before going on to lambast “The Fake News, and others” for going “after her mercilessly”.
“Because of the fact that she felt it inappropriate, due to her position, to defend herself, it just never stopped!” he added. “While tough and strong, she was made to suffer in those years from 2016 until her Retirement.”
“I will never forget the many times people would come up to me and say, ‘Your sister was the smartest person on the Court,’” he claimed. “I was always honored by that, but understood exactly what they meant — They were right! She was a great Judge, and a great sister. She will be truly missed!”
It has been reported that the former judge was found dead at her Manhattan home on Monday. A cause of death has not been announced.
She attended Hofstra University Law School and later became a federal prosecutor.
During the 2016 campaign, Mr Trump said she would be a “phenomenal” Supreme Court Justice, later backtracking and claiming it was a joke, but adding that his sister was “brilliant”.
In 2020, her views on her brother’s presidency were laid bare in a series of audio recordings released by her niece, Mary Trump, during public appearances to promote her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.
In the surreptitiously made audio tapes, Ms Trump Barry savaged her brother as having no concerns as president but to please his political base.
“He has no principles. None. His goddamned tweeting and lying... oh my God. I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy s***,” she said.
She also told her niece that Mr Trump had paid someone to take college entrance examinations for him and criticised her brother’s “phoniness” and “cruelty”.
“You can’t trust him,” she added.
