President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, died Saturday night in a New York hospital. He was 71. The president visited his brother at New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan on Friday after officials said he had become seriously ill. The White House announced Robert Trump’s death without specifying a cause. “It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Trump said in a statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”
It seems Robert Trump’s death was expected Saturday. People who spoke to the 74-year-old president that day said he appeared sad knowing his brother would be dying soon. He reportedly called his brother’s hospital room late on Saturday but it isn’t clear whether the two were able to speak. Ivanka Trump took to Twitter shortly after the announcement of her uncle’s death: “Uncle Robert, we love you. You are in our hearts and prayers, always.” Her brothers also honored their uncle via Twitter. “Anyone who encountered him felt his warmth immediately. He will be deeply missed by our entire family,” Eric Trump wrote. Donald Trump Jr. tweeted: “Uncle Rob, we love you and we will miss you. R.I.P”
The White House has never released any details about Trump’s illness although he appears to have been sick for several months. “I have a wonderful brother. We have a great relationship for a long time, from day one, so long time ago. And he’s in the hospital right now,” Trump said when a reporter asked him about his brother’s illness. “Hopefully he’ll be alright, but he’s—he’s pretty—he’s having a hard time.” Robert Trump had reportedly been hospitalized in the intensive care unit for several days in June.
The youngest of Frederick Trump and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump’s five children last made news in June, when he filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family to try to stop the president’s niece, Mary Trump, from publishing her tell-all book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man. In a statement, Robert Trump had said he was “deeply disappointed” in Mary Trump’s decision to publish her book. “Her attempt to sensationalize and mischaracterize our family relationship after all of these years for her own financial gain is both a travesty and injustice to the memory of my late brother, Fred, and our beloved parents,” he said. “I and the rest of my entire family are so proud of my wonderful brother, the president, and feel that Mary’s actions are truly a disgrace.”
Throughout the years, Robert Trump had remained close with the president even though by all accounts the two had strikingly different personalities. Donald Trump once said his younger brother was “much quieter and easygoing than I am.” Those who worked with them agreed on that assessment. “He was dignified, he was quiet, he listened, he was good to work with,” Jack O’Donnell, a former Trump Organization executive, tells the New York Times. “He had zero sense of entitlement. Robert was very comfortable being Donald Trump’s brother and not being like him.” The strikingly different personalities meant the two sometimes clashed but they reconciled when Donald Trump decided to run for president.
Several of the president’s allies expressed their condolences. “Robert Trump has a big heart. As a former Mayor I know how much he did to help New Yorkers in need. We have lost a really good man,” wrote former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
from Slate Magazine https://ift.tt/2CwPVbf
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