U.S. President Donald Trump has "no principles" and "you can't trust him" -- are not the words of a Democratic party supporter or a candidate. His eldest sister, Maryanne Trump Barry used these harsh words to criticize her brother, as per a leaked audio recording.
The secretly recorded audio was obtained by the Washington Post. In the recording, Maryanne was speaking to the President's niece, Mary Trump about the two's relationship. But she was not aware that Mary was recording the conversation.
In the conversation, Maryanne was referring to the President's policy on the refugee crisis. His orders led to separating children from their parents and as the immigration court hearings went on, those children were put in overcrowded accommodations.
Maryanne, a former federal judge, was livid. "All he wants to do is appeal to his base. 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," she told Mary.
Criticizing her brother for handling of the issue, Maryanne suggested that her brother hadn't read her immigration opinions. She said that in one instance, she had berated a judge for not treating an asylum seeker respectfully.
Mary recently published a controversial tell-all book about his uncle, "Too Much and Never Enough", referring to him as the "world's most dangerous man." Following the release of the book, she told Washington Post that she would do everything to help Democratic candidate Joe Biden to win the presidential election as her uncle was unfit to continue as the president.
How the Release Came About?
In her book, Mary alleged that President had paid one of his friends to take the SAT exam to get a transfer to the University of Pennsylvania. When she was asked how did she obtain the information, she revealed that she had recorded 15-hours of conversation with Maryanne in 2018 and 2019. She then provided the Post with the unreleased audio that contained the abovementioned conversation with her aunt.
Calling him a "brat", Maryanne said she used to do the homework for him and "drove him around New York to try and get him into a college." Then she added what according to Mary was a bombshell. "He went to Fordham for one year, actually two years, and then he got into the University of Pennsylvania because he had somebody take the exams," Maryanne said, adding that the person was Joe Shapiro.
The President had a friend named Joe Shapiro in Pennsylvania. The person, however, is no more. His widow and sister last month said that he never took any test for anybody, not even for the President. Mary said it was a different Joe Shapiro but nobody of that name has yet surfaced.
Earlier, the President said that he got into the Wharton School of Finance in Pennsylvania that according to him was one of "the hardest schools to get in to" and he could do that as he is a "super genius."
Further investigations showed that Mary's father, Fred Junior was a close friend of an admission official, James Nolan. He said that he interviewed Trump and granted admission as it was not very difficult at that time. As per Nolan, most of the applications of that time were accepted but now the rate is only 7.4 percent.
'Who Cares!'
However, Maryanne never publicly spoke against her brother and she was also present during his election night rally in 2016. But the leaked conversation also revealed the level of discord between the President and her. It all started when Maryanne asked him for a favor in the 1980s. The President since then has used the instance to take credit for her success.
"It's the phoniness of it all. It's the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel," Maryanne said during the conversation. Later in a statement issued by the White House, the President said, "Every day it's something else, who cares. I miss my brother, and I'll continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees, but the results are obvious. Our country will soon be stronger than ever before!"
Implications
The President, ahead of November 2020 elections, has a 42 percent approval rating while his opponent Democratic candidate Joe Biden leads with 51 percent. The conversation recordings, however, may not have any implications in the 2020 Elections as shown in the past when former Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton lost to Trump in 2016, despite impressive approval ratings.
But Mary believes, according to her spokesperson, Chris Bastardi, that the information was relevant considering federal charges were brought against prominent people, who had taken "unethical steps to get their children into college."
