Mary L. Trump | |
---|---|
Born | Mary Lea Trump May 3, 1965 New York City, U.S. |
Education | Tufts University (BA) Columbia University (MA) Adelphi University (PhD) |
Occupation(s) | Psychologist, podcaster, writer |
Political party | Democratic [1] |
Children | 1 |
Parent(s) | Fred Trump Jr. Linda Clapp |
Relatives | Trump family |
Mary Lea Trump, PhD (born May 3, 1965) [2] is an American psychologist and writer. A niece of former US president Donald Trump, she has been critical of him. Her 2020 book about him and the family, Too Much and Never Enough , sold nearly one million copies on the day of its release. Two further books followed, The Reckoning (2021) and Who Could Ever Love You (2024).
In September 2020, Mary Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in her grandfather Fred Trump's real-estate portfolio. The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2022. Donald Trump sued Mary for at least $100 million in September 2021 for providing The New York Times with financial documents which it used as a source for a 2018 exposé about his wealth and the family's finances.
Mary Trump was born in May 1965 to flight attendant Linda Lea Clapp and Fred Trump Jr., a commercial airline pilot of Trans World Airlines and son of real-estate developer Fred Trump (Donald Trump's father). Her older brother is Fred Trump III. [3] [4] When she was 16, her father died at 42 of a heart attack caused by alcoholism. [5]
Mary Trump graduated from the Ethel Walker School in 1983. She studied English literature at Tufts University, earned a master's degree in English literature at Columbia University, for which she studied the works of William Faulkner and his dysfunctional fictional Compson family, [6] [7] [8] and holds a PhD in clinical psychology from the Derner Institute of Advanced Psychological Studies [9] at Adelphi University. [4] [10] [11]
Fred Trump Sr.'s will left the bulk of his estate, in equal shares, to his surviving children, [12] [13] while each of his grandchildren was left $200,000. [14] In 1981, when Mary's father predeceased him, Fred Sr.'s lawyers had recommended amending his will, to leave Fred Trump Jr.'s children larger shares than the grandchildren with living parents, writing that "Given the size of your estate, this is tantamount to disinheriting them. You may wish to increase their participation in your estate to avoid ill will in the future." However, Fred Trump Sr. refused to do so. [12]
Fred Sr. was diagnosed with "mild senile dementia" in 1991 [15] and about two years later began to suffer from Alzheimer's disease. [16] Donald Trump, at the time facing financial ruin, sought control of his elderly father's estate, leading to a family fight which The Washington Post described as "epic". [15] When Fred Trump Sr. died in 1999, Mary Trump and her brother, Fred Trump III, contested their grandfather's will. [6] [12] [17]
Shortly after Fred Sr.'s death, Fred III's wife gave birth to a son named William, who has epileptic spasms, a rare and debilitating medical condition requiring a lifetime of care. [12] Fred Sr. had established a foundation that paid the medical expenses of his family. Mary Trump and her brother filed suit against Donald Trump and two of his three living siblings, Maryanne Trump Barry and Robert Trump, for exerting undue influence on the elderly Fred Sr.'s will. [18] In response, Donald, Maryanne and Robert cut off Mary and Fred III's medical insurance, including coverage for William. [12] The lawsuit was settled in 2001, with Mary and Fred III selling their interests in the family business (which included ground leases for two of Fred Sr.'s major properties). [18]
Mary Trump provided financial records, including some Trump family tax returns, to The New York Times for its 2018 exposé on Fred and Donald Trump's finances, which alleges that Fred and the siblings of Fred Jr. –especially Donald –"participated in dubious tax schemes ... including instances of outright fraud", effectively avoiding over $500 million in gift taxes. [19] [20]
Mary Trump sued her uncle Donald, aunt Maryanne, and the estate of her late uncle Robert in September 2020, claiming that they defrauded her of tens of millions of dollars from her interests in Fred Sr.'s real-estate portfolio by undervaluing her interests and coercing her to sign a settlement. [21] [22] [18] The defendants' lawyers asked for dismissal of the lawsuit, claiming that she had waited too long to file suit. [23] Trump's lawyers responded that "[r]easonable diligence would not have uncovered the fraud" more than a decade earlier. [24] In a January 2022 hearing, lawyers for Donald Trump, Maryanne Trump Barry, and the estate of Robert Trump asked for Mary Trump's lawsuit to be dismissed, arguing that she had waited too long to file her lawsuit because she had had access to the relevant documents since 2001 and that a six-year statute of limitations imposed by the 2001 settlement had expired. [25] [26] The lawsuit was dismissed in November 2022 on the basis that Trump's 2001 settlement agreement had "unambiguously released defendants from unknown claims, including fraud claims". [27] She made an appeal request, which was denied on June 22, 2023. [28]
In September 2021, Donald Trump filed a lawsuit against his niece and The New York Times (namely the authors of the 2018 exposé) [29] for over $100 million. [19] The suit accuses Mary Trump and the three New York Times journalists of utilizing confidential documents in an "insidious" conspiracy against Donald. Mary called the suit an act of "desperation". [30] [31] In a January 2023 hearing, a lawyer for the Times argued that the truthfulness of the exposé outweighed other considerations. Donald's lawyer Alina Habba singled out Mary's use of a burner phone to communicate with the Times, the counsel for which argued was merely to protect its source. [29] A New York Supreme Court justice dismissed the Times from the suit on May 3, 2023 and ordered Donald to pay its legal fees (which neared $400,000) on the basis that his assertions lacked constitutional merit and that, owing to the First Amendment, "reporters are entitled to engage in legal and ordinary news gathering activities without fear of tort liability". [32] [33] A ruling the next month allowed Donald to pursue his claim against Mary who appealed the ruling. The appeals court ruled in May ruled to let the case proceed, stating that there was "a substantial basis in law" for breach of contract but that the duration of the confidentiality agreement needed to be determined and that Donald had to prove whether the disclosure had caused him any damages. [34]
Mary Trump worked for one year at the Manhattan Psychiatric Center while working on her PhD research. [9] She is a contributor to the book Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, published by Columbia University Press in 2001. [35] She has taught graduate courses in developmental psychology, trauma, and psychopathology. [8] She is the founder and chief executive officer of The Trump Coaching Group, a life-coaching company, and has also owned and operated a number of small businesses in the Northeast. [1]
Mary Trump's first book, Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man, is an unauthorized biography of Donald Trump published on July 14, 2020, by Simon & Schuster. According to Mary Trump's note at the beginning of the book, all accounts in the book come either from her own memory or from recorded conversations with family, friends, and others. Other sources are legal, financial and family documents, email correspondence, and the New York Times investigative article by David Barstow, Susanne Craig, and Russ Buettner. [8] The book details how Mary Trump was the anonymous source who provided The New York Times with Trump family tax returns. The New York Times report won the 2019 Pulitzer Prize. [36]
Upon the announcement of Too Much and Never Enough in June 2020, her uncle Robert Trump attempted to block its release, stating that she signed a non-disclosure agreement as part of the 2001 lawsuit settlement. [37] [6] [12] The filing of a temporary restraining order against Mary Trump was dismissed by a New York court for a lack of jurisdiction, and the book was published on July 14, 2020. [38] [39]
The book sold close to one million copies on its first day of sales. [40]
Trump's second book, The Reckoning: Our Nation's Trauma and Finding a Way to Heal, was published by St. Martin's Press on August 17, 2021. [41] Drawing from American history, Trump posits that the country has suffered trauma from its inception because of its inclusion of systemic racism and its failure to address the existence of white supremacy, especially by Republicans in recent decades. [42]
Trump's third book, Who Could Ever Love You (2024), is a memoir of her experiences related to her father's contempt in the eyes of Fred Sr. and resultant downfall. [43] [44]
Trump has a podcast, titled The Mary Trump Show, on which she discusses politics and other matters. On February 1, 2022, she announced that she would be removing her show from Spotify to protest alleged COVID-19 misinformation being spread on The Joe Rogan Experience , [45] which was exclusively distributed on Spotify.
Mary Trump supported Hillary Clinton during the 2016 presidential election. [1]
In 2018, David Barstow, Susanne Craig and Russ Buettner of The New York Times published "an exhaustive 18-month investigation of Donald Trump's finances that debunked his statements of self-made wealth and revealed a business empire riddled with tax dodges", for which they were awarded the 2019 Pulitzer Prize in Explanatory Reporting. [20] [46] Trump has stated that she was a key source of information for that study, [14] having come into possession of Donald Trump's tax documents during the discovery process in the dispute over her grandfather's estate. [47]
On July 15, 2020, Mary Trump said in an ABC News interview conducted by George Stephanopoulos that Donald Trump should resign as president, as he was "utterly incapable of leading this country, and it's dangerous to allow him to do so". [48] In an interview later that month on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert , Mary Trump stated that Donald Trump exhibited sociopathic tendencies but not at a high-functioning level like his father. She said the president was institutionally insulated from responsibilities throughout his childhood and was never held accountable for his actions. [49]
After the 2021 U.S. Capitol attack, Mary Trump said her uncle should be "barred from ever running for public office again." [50]
Mary Trump is openly gay. In Too Much and Never Enough, she makes a brief reference to the fact and states that "Nobody in the family knew; they'd always been spectacularly uninterested in my personal life ... and never asked about my boyfriends or relationships." She wrote that her grandmother, Mary Anne MacLeod Trump, once referred to Elton John as a "faggot", [51] and consequently, Mary Trump decided not to come out and tell her grandmother or other immediate family that she was going to marry a woman, with whom she would later raise a daughter. [52] [53] She has since divorced, and lives on Long Island, New York, with her 21-year-old daughter, who was conceived by in-vitro fertilization via a sperm donor. [8] [54]
Frederick Christ Trump Sr. was an American real-estate developer and businessman. He was the father of Donald Trump, who himself would become a businessman, a major TV personality, and later the 45th president of the United States.
Ivana Marie "Ivanka" Trump is an American businesswoman. She is the second child of Donald Trump and his first wife, Ivana. Trump was a senior advisor in his administration (2017–2021), and also was the director of the Office of Economic Initiatives and Entrepreneurship.
The Trump Organization is an American privately-owned conglomerate owned by Donald Trump. It serves as the holding company for all of Trump's business ventures and investments, with around 250 of its affiliates and subsidiaries using the Trump name. Donald Trump joined the organization in 1968, began leading it in 1971, renamed it around 1973, and handed off its leadership to his children in 2017 after he won the 2016 United States presidential election.
Maryanne Trump Barry was an American attorney and United States federal judge. She became an assistant United States attorney in 1974 and was first appointed to the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey by President Ronald Reagan in 1983. In 1999, she was appointed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit by President Bill Clinton.
David Barstow is an American journalist and professor. While a reporter at The New York Times from 1999 to 2019, Barstow was awarded, individually or jointly, four Pulitzer Prizes, becoming the first reporter in the history of the Pulitzers to be awarded this many. In 2019, Barstow joined the faculty of the UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism as a professor of investigative journalism.
Roberta Ann Kaplan, also known as Robbie Kaplan, is an American lawyer focusing on commercial litigation and public interest matters. Kaplan successfully argued before the Supreme Court of the United States on behalf of LGBT rights activist Edith Windsor, in United States v. Windsor, a landmark decision that invalidated a section of the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act and required the federal government to recognize same-sex marriages. She was a partner at Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison before starting her own firm in 2017. In 2018, she co-founded the Time's Up Legal Defense Fund.
Mary Anne Trump was the wife of real-estate developer Fred Trump and the mother of Donald Trump, the 45th president of the United States.
From the 1970s until he was elected president in 2016, Donald Trump and his businesses were involved in over 4,000 legal cases in United States federal and state courts, including battles with casino patrons, million-dollar real estate lawsuits, personal defamation lawsuits, and over 100 business tax disputes. He has also been accused of sexual harassment and sexual assault, with one accusation resulting in him being held civilly liable.
Trump: The Art of the Comeback is a 1997 book written by businessman and future President of the United States, Donald Trump and journalist Kate Bohner.
Donald Trump, an American businessman, politician, and former president of the United States has used several pseudonyms, including "John Barron", "John Miller" and "David Dennison". His practice of sometimes speaking to the media under the guise of a spokesperson has been described as "an open secret" at the Trump Organization and in New York media circles.
Donald Trump, the president of the United States from 2017 to 2021, has a history of insulting and belittling women when speaking to the media and on social media. He has made lewd comments, disparaged women's physical appearances, and referred to them using derogatory epithets. Since the 1970s, at least 26 women have publicly accused Trump of rape, kissing, and groping without consent; looking under women's skirts; and walking in on naked teenage pageant contestants. Trump has denied all of the allegations.
The family of Donald Trump, 45th president of the United States (2017–2021) and owner of the Trump Organization, is an American family of German and Scottish descent. They are active in business, entertainment, politics, and real estate. Donald Trump, his third wife Melania, and their son Barron were the first family for the duration of his presidency. Trump's father Fred was the son of German immigrants, while his mother Mary Anne MacLeod was a Scottish immigrant. Trump has five children from three wives, and ten grandchildren.
Donald Trump grew up in Jamaica Estates, an affluent neighborhood in Queens, New York City. In 1971, Trump moved into a studio in Manhattan. From 1983 until 2019, Trump's primary residence was the three-level penthouse on the top floors of Trump Tower; in 2019, he declared Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, to be his primary residence. During his presidency from January 20, 2017, until January 20, 2021, Trump resided at the White House in Washington, D.C..
The following is a list of notable lawsuits involving former United States president Donald Trump. The list excludes cases that only name Trump as a legal formality in his capacity as president, such as habeas corpus requests.
Robert Stewart Trump was an American businessman and investor. He was the younger brother of former U.S. president Donald Trump.
The net worth of former president Donald Trump is not publicly known. Forbes has estimated his wealth for decades and estimates it at $3.7 billion as of early September 2024, with Trump making much higher claims. He received gifts, loans, and inheritance from his father, who was a real-estate developer and businessman. Donald Trump's primary business has been real estate ventures, including hotels, casinos, and golf courses. He also made money from Trump-branded products including neckties, steaks, and urine tests. Money received through political fundraisers is used to pay for guest stays at properties owned by the Trump Organization and to pay his and his allies' lawyers.
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man is a tell-all book written by American psychologist Mary L. Trump about her uncle, former U.S. President Donald Trump, and his family. It was published by Simon & Schuster on July 14, 2020. The book provides an insider view of Trump family dynamics and reveals details about financial dealings, including the author's work as the anonymous source who revealed her uncle's suspected tax fraud. The Trump family launched a lawsuit in an attempt to stop its publication but was unsuccessful in delaying the release of the book.
Frederick Crist Trump Jr. was an American airplane pilot and maintenance worker. The eldest son of real-estate businessman Fred Trump Sr., he fell out of his father's favor when he chose to become an airline pilot, leading to his younger brother Donald inheriting the family business.
Two related investigations by New York State and City officials were opened by 2020 to determine whether the Trump Organization has committed financial fraud. One of these is a criminal case being conducted by the Manhattan district attorney (DA) and the other is a civil case being conducted by the New York State Attorney General (AG). The DA's case has led to two of the organization's subsidiary companies being found guilty of 17 charges including tax fraud and the indictment of Donald Trump, while the AG has succeeded in imposing an independent monitor to prevent future fraud by the organization.
Frederick Crist "Fritz" Trump III is an American author and an advocate for people with disabilities. He is the son of Fred Trump Jr., the brother of Mary L. Trump and the nephew of former United States President Donald Trump.
Both lawsuits were filed by Fred Trump III and Mary Trump, the children of Donald's late brother, Fred Jr. They offer a rare window into one of New York's most prominent families, a world where alliances and rivalries are magnified by power, money and the tough-nosed tactics of Donald Trump. "When [Fred 3rd] sued us, we said, 'Why should we give him medical coverage?'"
The Daily Beast alleges that within days of the news breaking about the book on Sunday, the President had begun considering legal action against his niece. The news outlet states that 'two people familiar with the situation' attested that Donald Trump has 'told people close to him that he's getting his lawyers to look into the Mary Trump matter'.