The death of President Donald Trump’s younger brother, Robert Trump, was “a very tough moment for the president,” son-in-law and adviser Jared Kushner said Sunday.
“The president loved his brother very much,” Kushner told Margaret Brennan on CBS News’ “Face the Nation.” “His brother was very proud of him.”
It is “obviously a very tough moment for the president,” Kushner went on. “But he’s looking forward to continuing to do great things and make his brother proud.”
Trump was able to visit his brother Friday, Kushner said.
Robert Trump, who was 71, died Saturday at Manhattan’s New York-Presbyterian Hospital. Though the White House did not provide a cause of death, a friend told The New York Times he had been experiencing brain bleeds in the wake of a serious fall. He was hospitalized for several days prior to his death, The Washington Post reported.
“I have a wonderful brother,” the president, 74, said at a news conference Friday before traveling to the hospital. “We’ve had a great relationship for a long time, from Day 1.”
Trump called into the hospital Saturday, The New York Times reported, and friends later described him as “downcast.”
“It is with heavy heart I share that my wonderful brother, Robert, peacefully passed away tonight,” Trump said in a statement Saturday. “He was not just my brother, he was my best friend."