Trump visits seriously ill brother in NY hospital

WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump on Friday visited his younger brother Robert, who is said to be very ill at a hospital in Manhattan.

Asked about his 72-year-old brother’s condition during a Friday news conference, Trump did not provide details.

“I have a wonderful brother. We’ve had a great relationship for a long time, from day one,” he responded before mentioning that his younger brother is “in the hospital right now. Hopefully he’ll be all right, but he is pretty — he’s having a hard time.”

ABC News first reported that Trump’s younger brother was ill and the president would visit him Friday before he arrived at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey, where he planned to spend the weekend.

Trump’s elder brother, Fred, died in 1981 at age 43 from complications of alcoholism — a fact the president frequently references when he talks about the scourge of addiction.

“I had a brother, Fred — great guy, best-looking guy, best personality,” Trump said at an East Room event during his first year in the White House. “But he had a problem. He had a problem with alcohol, and he would tell me, ‘Don’t drink. Don’t drink.’ … He would say it over and over and over again.”

Because of his older brother’s warnings, the president maintains, he abstained from alcohol.

Trump also has two sisters, Maryanne Trump Barry, a former federal judge, and Elizabeth Trump Grau, who also is retired.

Robert, the youngest sibling, previously worked for the president at the Trump Organization. His name has been in the news recently in an unflattering tell-all book, “Too Much and Never Enough,” written by Fred’s daughter, Mary.

Contact Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com or 202-662-7391. Follow @DebraJSaunders on Twitter.