Trump aides dismiss tapes of his sister
WASHINGTON — The White House and the Trump campaign Sunday dismissed secretly recorded audio in which President Donald Trump’s sister Maryanne Trump Barry said the president has “no principles” and “you can’t trust him.”
Mary Trump, the president’s niece, surreptitiously taped the 15 hours of face-to-face conversations with Barry in 2018 and 2019. She provided The Washington Post with previously unreleased transcripts and audio excerpts.
In an interview Sunday on ABC News’ “This Week,” White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows said Trump “has been public with his response — you know, just another day and another attack that we continue to see.”
“I can tell you that I’ve never met the judge,” Meadows said of Maryanne Trump Barry, who retired last year from her post as a federal judge. “I was at the funeral the other day. I was hoping to meet her there. She didn’t show up for her brother’s funeral.”
The president’s brother Robert died Aug. 15 at age 71. A private memorial service was held at the White House on Friday.
In one of the secretly recorded conversations, Barry, 83, appeared aghast at how her 74-year-old brother operated as president. “His god ***** d tweet and lying, oh my God,” she said. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy s***.”
Meadows pushed back against that criticism Sunday while criticizing Mary Trump, who he said was “written out of a will” and “has an ax to grind because she wants Joe Biden to be president.”
“The president that I have the privilege of serving is not the one that’s being described on a 15-hour … secret tape,” Meadows said. “I mean, what family member tapes another family member for 15 hours secretly?”
In 1999, when family patriarch Fred Trump Sr. died, Barry joined with Donald and Robert Trump in a lawsuit to prevent Mary from getting a larger amount of the inheritance. Mary had said in a probate case that she and her brother should have received an amount closer to what would have gone to their father if he had lived.
In another of the recorded conversations, Barry said of her brother, “He doesn’t read.”
Meadows countered in Sunday’s interview that Trump “reads probably more than anybody I know, which causes me to have to read more because every morning he’s giving me a to-do list. Every evening he’s giving me a to-do list.”
Jason Miller, a Trump campaign senior adviser, also played down the significance of Barry’s comments.
“Sibling rivalries are nothing new in the world,” Miller said in an interview Sunday on NBC News’ “Meet the Press.” “It’s been going on since the beginning of time.”
He noted that Americans had previously heard “some pretty pointed commentary” from former President Barack Obama’s half brother, Malik Obama. In 2016, Malik Obama announced that he was supporting Trump’s White House bid; Trump later invited him to be a guest at the final presidential debate.
“Unfortunately, when you get to the White House, you have family members who sometimes decide to voice their sibling rivalries or frustrations. Nothing new, but going into next week, it’s not something that’s going to be an issue,” Miller said, adding that it was “shameful” for The Washington Post to have published the story one day after Robert Trump’s funeral.