Maryanne Trump Barry, a former federal judge and older sister to former US president Donald Trump, has died at 86.
Barry reportedly died at her home in New York City, according to the New York Times. A person familiar with the matter told the Times that Barry had been found early Monday morning. Her cause of death is unknown.
The eldest daughter of Fred and Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, Barry was an assistant US attorney in 1974 before getting appointed to the US district court for New Jersey by Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1999, she was appointed to the US court of appeals for the third circuit by Bill Clinton. She retired in 2019, which coincided with an investigation into her alleged judicial misconduct.
In 2018, an investigation by The New York Times prompted a formal complaint to look into whether Barry engaged in tax schemes during the 1990s. The Times report claimed that Barry, who allegedly benefited financially from the tax schemes, was also able to use her position of power to influence her family’s actions at that time.
Barry had been married and later widow to John Barry, a trial and appellate lawyer.
Notably, Barry and her younger brother, the 77-year-old former president, were at odds. Audio recordings released by Mary L Trump, Barry and Donald’s niece, revealed that Barry was quite critical of her sibling’s political antics. Per a report by Town & Country, Barry even called her brother a “clown” during the 2016 election.
Barry is the third of the former president’s siblings to have died. Previously, Robert Trump died in 2020 and Fred Trump Jr died in 1981. – Guardian