Robert Trump, 71, the younger brother of President Donald Trump, died Saturday at a New York hospital, Donald Trump announced in a statement.
A White House spokesperson confirmed to The Hill. “It is with a heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Trump said in the statement released late Saturday night.
“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.”
Robert Trump was hospitalized in New York City where the president visited him on Friday.
It’s not clear what condition he was being treated for. According to ABC, Robert had been in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for more than a week in June as well.
Trump told reporters Friday that Robert is a “wonderful brother” and the two have “had a great relationship from day one.”
“He’s in the hospital right now and hopefully he’ll be alright,” he added. “But he’s having a hard time.”
Robert Trump was a former top executive at the Trump Organization. He’s one of four other siblings related to the President, including the late Fred Trump, Jr., who died in 1981.
Robert Trump recently gleaned media attention after filing a temporary restraining order against his niece Mary Trump (the daughter of Fred Trump) in an attempt to block the publication of her tell-all book.
Robert Trump said in a statement in June that he was “deeply disappointed” in his niece’s decision to write the book titled, “Too Much and Never Enough.”
A New York judge ultimately tossed the suit, and the book, which paints an unflattering picture of the Trump family, was published in July.
Mary Trump said in an interview with Greenpeace earlier this week that her uncle Robert Trump had been in the hospital “a couple of times in the last three months.”