Donald Trump's eldest sister has been found dead in her New York City apartment.
As reported by BBC News, Maryanne Trump Barry - a former federal judge in New Jersey - was found dead at approximately 4:00AM on Monday (November 13) at her home in the Upper East Side of Manhattan area. She was 86 years old.
At the time of this writing, no cause of death has been announced. A medical examiner will determine the cause of death at a later date.
Sources close to the matter have told ABC News that emergency crews had been responding to a call of somebody having a cardiac arrest - although Barry was not named specifically. However, sources also added that there were no signs of trauma or foul play at the scene.
Barry is the third of Donald Trump's siblings to have passed away.
The former US President's youngest brother - Robert Trump - died in August 2020 at 71 years old and Fred Trump Jr. died back in September 1981 at just 42 years old after suffering a heart attack. His only surviving sibling is his older sister, Elizabeth Trump Grau - an 81-year-old former banker.
Barry served as a senior judge from 1983 until her eventual retirement in 2019 after being nominated by President Ronald Reagan. She was one of only two female prosecutors in the US Attorney's Office in New Jersey from 1974 to 1983. In 1999, President Bill Clinton appointed Bary to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
While running for president back in 2015, Donald Trump said that his sister would make a "phenomenal" selection for the US Supreme Court.
Her retirement in 2019 came at a time when she became the focus of a court investigation following The New York Times published its own investigation into the tax practices of Donald Trump and his family. The Times adds that her retirement brought a close to the investigation as retired judges are not subject to judicial conduct rules.
Although several reports claim that Barry was one of her brother's closest advisors, their relationship became the subject of scrutiny after her niece - Mary Trump - released several audio recordings that were secretly recorded in 2018 and 2019.
In the recordings - which were shared with and published by the Washington Post - Barry makes several scathing remarks about President Trump.
"All he wants to do is appeal to his base," Barry told her niece as part of a conversation that was secretly recorded. "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."
The recordings were released in 2020, when Mary Trump also released her book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man.
Our thoughts are with Mrs. Barry's family, friends, and loved ones at this time.
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