Trump’s Sister in Secret Audio Recording: ‘He Has No Principles’
President Donald Trump’s sister, retired federal judge Maryanne Trump Barry, can be heard on newly released audio speaking “too freely,” in her words, about her brother’s lack of principles and general cruelty.
The recordings were made over a period of two years by Mary Trump, the president’s niece and author of Too Much and Never Enough, and provided to The Washington Post.
“He has no principles. None. None. And his base, I mean my God, if you were a religious person, you want to help people. Not do this,” Barry says on the tape, apparently referring to his policy of separating migrant children from their parents at the border. “His goddamned tweet and lying, oh my God. I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
She added, “It’s the phoniness of it all. It’s the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel.”
In other parts of the audio, Barry, who has not previously spoken out against her brother, reveals that the president “doesn’t read.” She recounted a phone call in which he asked her if she was watching Fox News and she told him that she prefers to read.
“What do you read?” the president asked. When she replied, “Books,” he asked again, “You don’t watch Fox?”
The recordings also reveal that Barry was the source of the allegation in the book that President Trump had someone take his SATs for him.
“He went to Fordham for one year [actually two years] and then he got into University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams,” Barry said.
Mary Trump told the Post that she began secretly taping Barry because of an inheritance dispute, and she turned over transcripts and audio of conversations that did not make it into her book.
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The niece’s book contains other comments from Maryanne Trump Barry, disparaging her brother.
“He’s a clown,” Maryanne said, according to the book.
Mary Trump wrote that she asked her aunt, “Does anybody even believe the bullshit that he’s a self-made man? What has he even accomplished on his own?”
“Well,” Maryanne responded, “he has had five bankruptcies.”
Maryanne, a devout Catholic, allegedly also told her niece that the president had committed “a sin” by citing the death of their brother Fred Trump Jr. while addressing the opioid crisis.
When white evangelicals started endorsing Donald for president, Maryanne allegedly sniped, “The only time Donald went to church was when the cameras were there. It’s mind-boggling. He has no principles. None!”
Barry retired from her position as a federal appellate judge last year, which ended a judicial conduct inquiry into her alleged involvement in possible tax fraud by the family.
The release of the recordings comes a day after a White House funeral was held for her and the president’s brother, Robert. He died weeks after fighting unsuccessfully to muzzle Mary Trump.
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