Trump's younger brother Robert 'very ill' and hospitalized confirms White House, POTUS to visit him in NY
President Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert Trump, has been hospitalized in New York. White House officials confirmed the news on Friday, August 14.
The condition of the 72-year-old remains unknown although according to sources, he is "very ill." White House Press Secretary Kayleigh McEnany confirmed in a statement to ABC News, Robert had been admitted to the hospital although she refused to provide details on the exact nature of his illness. She did, however, say that the president and his brother "have a very good relationship" and further details on the matter will be provided by POTUS at a later time.
It was also reported that Trump was supposed to fly out to New York to meet with his brother at the hospital although details of his departure were still being worked on. According to the last scheduling update, Trump was due to travel to his country club in nearby Bedminster, New Jersey, for the weekend.
Robert is the youngest of the five Trump siblings and his failing health made news earlier in June when he was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai hospital in New York for more than a week.
He made headlines recently when he filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president's niece, Mary Trump, titled 'Too Much and Never Enough'. He filed a lawsuit to permanently block Mary’s book, a day after a New York state court rejected on jurisdictional grounds his first attempt to block its release. He also sued the publisher. The lawsuit claimed that the book violated a nondisclosure agreement she signed as part of a dispute over the 1999 will of Fred Trump Sr, the father of the president who passed away that year.
At the time of filing the lawsuit, Robert said he was "deeply disappointed" in his niece's decision to write the explosive book and that he and the "entire family" were "so proud of my wonderful brother, the president." The issue has snowballed into a major prestige battle for the current first family as the Trumps said that "no amount of monetary damages can ameliorate the loss” if the book’s release is given a nod.
A New York appeals court judge on July 1 gave a green signal to the publisher of the book, Simon & Schuster, to release it. Judge Alan D Scheinkman reversed a lower court’s decision a day ago which put a temporary restraining order on the tell-all. The appeals court judge ruled the publisher wasn’t restricted by a non-disclosure agreement that Mary signed. “Unlike Ms. Trump. S&S has not agreed to surrender or relinquish any of its First Amendment rights,” Justice Scheinkman wrote.
“While Ms. Trump unquestionably possesses the same First Amendment expressive rights belonging to all Americans, she also possesses the right to enter into contracts, including the right to contract away her First Amendment rights,” the judge also said in his verdict.
In the book, Mary claimed that Donald Trump, along with two other siblings, Maryanne and Robert, stopped providing medical support to her brother's sick child, William, who was born with cerebral palsy. Next, Daily Mail, which obtained copies of the lawsuit – filed in 2000 for wrongful termination of medical benefits and coverage, after paying the healthcare of their disabled infant nephew for years – reported that Trump family members like Donald, his brother Robert and their sister Maryanne "unilaterally" canceled it "maliciously and without excuse or justification."
The suit was countered by the president and his siblings, who stated that the children of their deceased brother Fred Jr., should be thanking them for their generosity instead of bringing a lawsuit against them because they had already provided millions of dollars in health benefit by that point. A "thank-you would be extremely appreciated," they wrote in their response to the suit.