WASHINGTON _ President Donald Trump's younger brother, Robert S. Trump, died on Saturday after an unspecified illness.
"He was not just my brother, he was my best friend," Trump said in a brief statement.
The president visited his brother on Aug. 14 in New York-Presbyterian Hospital in Manhattan, hours after it was reported that the younger man had been hospitalized. Robert Trump, who was 71, had also been hospitalized in June. His illness was unrelated to the coronavirus, said people familiar with the situation.
Robert Trump was the one of four surviving children of real estate developer Fred Trump, and had been an executive at the Trump Organization. At one time, he oversaw the company's casinos in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
In June he filed a temporary restraining order against his and President Trump's niece Mary L. Trump, the daughter of their late brother Fred Trump Jr., in an unsuccessful attempt to stop the publication of her book, an unflattering portrayal of the president and his family.
Trump paid tribute to his sibling in remarks at his Bedminster, New Jersey, golf club on Friday, as "a really good guy that I love."
The president is expected to attend his brother's funeral.
