Donald Trump’s estranged niece has shared her major issue with her uncle’s jaw-dropping payday since returning to the presidency.
Trump, 80, revealed he banked over $1 billion in income from his family’s crypto side hustles last year, after his annual financial disclosure was released on Tuesday by the U.S. Office of Government Ethics.
Psychologist and author Mary Trump, 61, has been a vocal critic of her uncle and his family. She is the president’s niece through his late brother, Fred Trump Jr.
Speaking to Anderson Cooper on CNN’s 360 on Thursday, Mary Trump said she was “unfortunately” not surprised by Trump’s unprecedented billion-dollar crypto grift, or the fact that he took possession of a $400 million Qatari-gifted luxury jet this week.
“This is from a history of corruption,” Mary said, referencing her family. “At least Donald comes by it honestly, my grandfather also engaged in all sorts of illicit financial schemes to increase his wealth and... Donald... continued in that tradition.”
However, Mary revealed her major problem went beyond how the president and his family “continue to rig the system in their favor” while in office.
“It‘s the number of people who are willing either to look the other way or to enable it,” Trump said.
“This is the president of the United States endangering the national security of American citizens because he‘s willing to take money from any foreign entity, no matter how potentially hostile it might be to American interests,” she claimed.
The author added, “Unfortunately, no people in power, no people who could rein him in seem to care, because they must be benefiting in some way.”
She said that the difference between Trump’s first and second terms as president is that “over the course of that intervening four years, Donald and many others were able to figure out how to bypass any of the systems that are designed to keep presidential rapaciousness in check.”
Trump’s niece also did not spare her cousins Donald Jr. and Eric, who the president said are handling his crypto investments.
“Donald was never as wealthy as he claimed to be,” Mary said, noting he received “over $400 million in gifts and unpaid loans,” from his father, and that he was not “some brilliant, savvy businessman” or a “self-made man.”
Mary added, “We‘re seeing the same thing with his children. It‘s not again, that, they are savvy or have any kind of specialized skills or knowledge. It‘s that they just happen to be related to people who have power and political connections, and that‘s what they‘re trading in on.”
The Daily Beast has contacted the White House for comment.
President Trump was asked about his “outsized” 10-figure sum made in crypto during an interview with CNBC’s Joe Kernen on Thursday.
The president said he didn’t know about the sums, but then added, “By the way, I could know about it. I didn’t. I mean, there’s nothing illegal. There’s nothing wrong with it. I could know.”
The president said he felt “badly” for his sons, due to their link to him.
He then stated, “The presidency is so powerful, so big... If they buy a cupcake company, the energy to make the cupcakes is, sort of like, `How’s my energy policy?’ So therefore you have a conflict... If they buy an energy efficient truck, they have inside information. So it’s pretty tough in that sense. I tell my kids, stay away from as much as you can stay away from. But they also have a life.”
