Although most people know who Donald Trump is, many of them don’t know about Donald’s older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, who passed away in November 2023 at the age of 86. Donald and his sister have had a rocky relationship throughout the years. This might be a surprise since he once boasted about her accomplishments in an early 2000s interview with New York Magazine, saying, “She ultimately became a federal judge, one notch below the Supreme Court!” However, the leaked secretly recorded tapes revealed the previously untold truth about the ex-POTUS, exposing his sister MaryAnne’s shady side.
Donald Trump didn’t publicly recognize his sister’s death immediately. Instead, he waited a day after she passed, at the same time that he discussed a post regarding his most recent book and the attack on New York Attorney General Letitia James. When he finally did mention his sister, it was an unexpectedly sentimental eulogy on Truth Social. He referred to her as a “truly beautiful woman, tall and elegant, with a presence like no other.”
Of course, Donald being Donald, couldn’t pass up an opportunity to talk about himself. He said that her life was drama-free until he “decided to run for President.” He did not mention the unflattering comments she made about him in the secret tapes. Anyone who heard them agreed that they were not only vicious and controversial, but humiliating.
A whopping 15 hours of recordings made by Maryanne’s niece, Mary Trump, and Donald himself during conversations were sent to the Washington Post in the summer of 2020. From what was said on the recordings, it was clear that the former president’s sister didn’t think very highly of her brother, and the whole world was aware of this.
Maryanne majorly deceived her brother Donald
In the tapes that the Washington Post received, the private conversations revealed Maryanne’s true thoughts about Trump, which she said during his presidency. She called him a phony and accused him of pandering to his main supporters and MAGA followers.
When discussing Donald’s treatment of refugees and immigrants who attempted to cross the border with her niece, she stated, “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,” she told Mary regarding Donald’s treatment of refugees and immigrants crossing the border.” She went on to call him out for his tweets and lies, speaking freely without realizing that her words would come back to haunt her.
But things weren’t always like that. In fact, Trump’s sister was once one of his biggest supporters. In 2008, she told New York magazine that when she had an operation six years earlier, her brother would visit her daily in the hospital, and that his love went “that extra yard.”
She also gave Donald credit for ensuring she secured her U.S. District Court nomination, once saying, “There’s no question Donald helped me get on the bench. I was good, but not that good.”
Maryanne defamed Trump’s character
A lot of her words resonated with other people, like former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who called Trump the “cheapest S.O.B” he had ever met and said his main talent was “spending other people’s money.”
The older Trump sibling also called Donald a “brat,” admitting that she did his homework and that the only reason he got into UPenn was because she thought someone else had done his SATs or helped him cheat to get a passing score. She also mentioned that he never read books and frequently had a cruel streak. She mentioned that he was generally selfish and took credit from others, with his only original accomplishment being several corporate bankruptcies.
The tapes also revealed that a fight over their father’s will caused a rift, leading Donald to ignore Maryanne and give her the silent treatment for two years. When they finally talked in 1999 at their dad’s funeral, the former POTUS only spoke about himself and what he had personally achieved since they last spoke.
Unsurprisingly, these comments led to another disagreement between the siblings. A source revealed to PEOPLE that Donald, due to his “thin-skinned” nature, was furious, which created more distance between him and Maryanne.
Maryanne had nasty things to say about “Madonna” Ivanka
Donald wasn’t the only Trump for whom Maryanne had venomous comments. Maryanne and Mary were talking during the time of the Trump administration’s “zero tolerance” refugee separation policy, which resulted in over 5,000 children being removed from their families, per PBS. During the traumatic and heartbreaking ordeal, Ivanka posted a completely tone-deaf photo of herself holding her son with the caption, “My [heart emoji] #Sunday Morning.”
On the incident, Maryanne said, “When Ivanka posted this picture of Madonna and her child on Instagram, the big news of the day was how kids were being ripped from their families.” She went on to call her “mini Donald” and admitted that Ivanka has always been Trump’s favorite daughter, with whom he shares a special bond. In the same breath, she expressed harsh criticism of Eric Trump, claiming that he had “become the moron publicly.”
Maryanne Trump Barry resigned due to a tax scam investigation
Maryanne Trump Barry’s shady side wasn’t restricted to talking trash about family members. She had some skeletons in her own closet, too. The New York Times reported in April 2019 that Maryanne stepped down from her position, ending an investigation into whether she broke judicial conduct rules by scheming with family members to potentially commit tax fraud.
The Times reported that Donald and his siblings participated in fraud and several shady acts of conspiring tax schemes that would allow them to grow their wealth even more and avoid paying inheritance taxes after their father, Fred Trump, passed away. By using her career as a judge, Maryanne had the privilege of facilitating said fraud and ensuring that she personally benefited from it as well.
The public was not satisfied that Maryanne simply retired to avoid justice. Attorney Scott Schuchart told the AP in 2019 that if this story revealed by the New York Times is true, Maryanne took part in a multimillion-dollar tax fraud over the course of decades. Schuchart filed one of multiple ethics complaints against her and added, “I think it’s appalling that we’re continuing to pay this criminal and that she now has completely avoided consequence.”
Maryanne Trump Barry officially gave up on her brother Donald
Though this pair of siblings’ relationship has always had its ups and downs, after the 15 hours of conversations were leaked, it was game over. She included lots of the material in her tell-all book, “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man,” which was released in 2020. Her niece started recording the conversations to obtain evidence in a lawsuit regarding her inheritance.
A source revealed to People that she thought her brother was a “ruthless and selfish businessman without character” and had zero trust in him. Another insider claimed that by the time of her death, she had essentially given up on him but still maintained some loyalty by not speaking badly about him in public.
