Trump’s daughter in law in hospital after opening letter with white powder inside
DONALD Trump’s daughterin-law was taken to hospital in New York yesterday after she opened a package containing a white powder which had been sent to her husband.
Vanessa Trump, who is married to the President’s oldest son Donald Jr, felt nauseous after opening the envelope.
The packet was addressed to her husband and had been sent to the apartment of her mother, Bonnie Haydon, in upmarket East 54th Street in Manhattan.
Mrs Haydon and one other person were also taken to the Weill Cornell Medical Centre as a precaution.
Mrs Haydon is understood to have handled the envelope, which was postmarked Boston, before passing it to her daughter. A hazardous materi- als team, trained in decontamination procedures, was called in.
The white powder turned out to be harmless cornflour, while the envelope contained a letter claiming the stunt was payback for past actions of Donald Jr, the New York Post reported.
Former model Mrs Trump, 40, married Donald Jr in 2005. None of their five children was with her at the time of the incident yesterday morning.
Donald Jr tweeted after the incident: ‘ Truly disgusting that certain individuals choose to express their opposing views with such disturbing behaviour.’
His sister Ivanka added: ‘No one deserves to be frightened this way. There is no excuse.’ President Trump’s personal lawyer, Michael Cohen, said: ‘How disturbed must a person be to do what they did to a mother of five young children?
‘This dangerous and reckless act goes beyond political differences.’ The incident recalled the terror campaign in the days after the 9/11 attacks in 2001, when letters containing lethal anthrax spores were sent to the offices of politicians and media outlets, resulting in five deaths.
In 2016, white powder was sent to the home of another of the President’s sons, Eric.
Mrs Trump, the granddaughter of Danish jazz musician Kai Ewans, studied psychology at college in New York. She is said to have dated actor Leonardo DiCaprio when she was 20 and had a minor role in the 2003 film Something’s Gotta Give.
Her sister, Veronika Haydon, is also a model.
Donald Jr has been in the public eye for his role in 2016 meetings with a Russian attorney and others where the Trump campaign was offered potentially damaging information about Democratic rival Hillary Clinton.
Congress has held probes into those meetings and whether they were part of a Russian campaign to influence the 2016 presidential election. Russia denies trying to influence the election, while President Trump has dismissed talk of collusion.
The US Secret Service, which is in charge of protecting the President and his family, said in a statement: ‘This is an active investigation and we cannot comment any further.’
Donald Jr is reported to have jettisoned his Secret Service guard for a period in September, wanting more privacy, but the security was reinstated a week later.
The Trump Organisation did not respond to a request for a comment last night.
‘Dangerous and reckless act’