Mary Trump has revealed a detail in former President Donald Trump’s trial that “doesn’t make sense” to her.
Trump is in court in New York City on 34 counts of falsifying business records related to a hush money payment allegedly made to adult film actor Stormy Daniels ahead of the 2016 presidential election. Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg alleged the payment was meant to prevent her from speaking publicly about her claims of having an affair with the former president.
The presumptive 2024 Republican presidential nominee has denied having an affair with Daniels and pleaded not guilty to all criminal charges. He maintains his innocence and has accused Bragg and other prosecutors of targeting him for political purposes, criticizing the trial as a form of election interference.
In an MSNBC interview Thursday night, host Katie Phang asked Mary Trump, a frequent critic of her uncle, about why most of Trump’s children haven’t yet attended the trial.
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Mary Trump said she doesn’t believe it makes sense that Eric Trump has attended but that Donald Trump Jr. so far has not done so.
“Maybe Eric drew the short straw because it doesn’t really make sense that it’s just him and not both of them or vice versa,” she said.
She added that Trump likely “doesn’t care if they’re there or not,” and that they would show up if he really wanted them to. He is likely to be “much more disturbed by the absence of the crowds outside rallying his defense,” she said.
However, the circumstances may be different for Ivanka Trump, according to Mary Trump.
“Ivanka made the calculation a long time ago that it was not in her best interest to remain in anyway associated with the rest of her family. She doesn’t need them. All of these relationships are transactional, and she is a legitimately wealthy person because of the person she’s married to,” she said.
She continued: “She doesn’t need Donald for anything. She’s not going to show up in a courtroom to support him, especially in a case that is at its base so depressingly tawdry.”
Newsweek reached out to the Trump campaign for comment via email.
Trump Jr. has shown support for his father on social media, describing the case as the “most corrupt prosecution in American history” in a post to X (formerly Twitter) on Tuesday.
Eric Trump, who has attended the trial, has commented on the case. Speaking to Fox News’ Laura Ingraham on Tuesday, he criticized the behavior of Michael Cohen, the former president’s ex-lawyer who is a central witness to the prosecution’s case.
“The New York DA’s office is sitting in court and they’re sitting there, they’re giggling and laughing, this is their All Star moment, this is their Super Bowl moment,” Eric Trump said. “They’re excited and they’re laughing, they finally get the opportunity to get my father.
“Then I look at Cohen, and he’s giddy. He’s so happy to say that he’s a personal attorney for Donald J. Trump, and how honored he was and how great it was and he worked in that role even after he left the organization,” he added.
Uncommon Knowledge
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Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.