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Donald Trump’s younger brother Robert dead at 71

  • The US president visited his seriously ill brother at a New York City hospital on Friday
  • The youngest of the Trump siblings remained close to the 74-year-old president

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Robert Trump and Donald Trump in 1999. File photo: AP

US President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, a businessman known for an even keel that seemed almost incompatible with the family name, died Saturday night after being hospitalised in New York, the president said in a statement. He was 71.

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The president visited his brother at a New York City hospital on Friday after White House officials said he had become seriously ill. Officials did not immediately release a cause of death.

“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Donald Trump said in a statement. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend. He will be greatly missed, but we will meet again. His memory will live on in my heart forever. Robert, I love you. Rest in peace.”

The youngest of the Trump siblings had remained close to the 74-year-old president and, as recently as June, filed a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family that unsuccessfully sought to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, Mary.

Robert Trump had reportedly been hospitalised in the intensive care unit for several days that same month.

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US President Donald Trump visited his sick brother Robert Trump at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Centre on Friday. Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump visited his sick brother Robert Trump at New York Presbyterian Weill Cornell Medical Centre on Friday. Photo: AFP
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