Donald Trump's sister found dead in Upper East Side apartment
UPPER EAST SIDE, Manhattan (WABC) -- Former President Donald Trump's sister was discovered dead in her Upper East Side apartment early Monday morning.
Maryanne Trump Barry, 86, was found inside her Fifth Avenue apartment at around 4 a.m.
She was discovered in her bedroom and was pronounced dead at the scene.
The Medical Examiner will determine her cause of death. There were no signs of trauma.
Until her retirement in 2019, Barry was a senior judge on the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, a level below the Supreme Court.
Before becoming a judge, Barry became an Assistant U.S. Attorney in 1974 and was nominated to the federal court in New Jersey by former President Ronald Reagan. She was later elevated to the U.S. Court of Appeals by former President Bill Clinton. She retired in 2019 amid an investigation into her family's tax practices.
Barry had stayed largely out of the spotlight during her brother's presidency, but drew headlines after her niece, Mary Trump, revealed that she had secretly recorded her aunt while promoting a book that denounced the former president. In the recordings, Barry could be heard sharply criticizing her brother, at one point saying the former president "has no principles" and is "cruel."
A spokesman for former President Trump declined to comment.
Following the completion of his testimony, Donald Trump Jr. made the first family comments acknowledging the death of his aunt, calling it "a rough day."
"It's a rough day for myself and my family, I'm very close, especially with her grandson, and it's a day, but at this stage in our lives, it's just another day," Trump Jr. said.
(The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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