WASHINGTON – Growing up in Queens, Robert S. Trump learned to survive in the shadow of a rambunctious older brother, Donald, who monopolized attention. In adulthood, his older brother was his boss at the Trump Organization. And near the end of his life, he became the defender of his older brother, and joined him in the public entertainment of her niece, Mary, who had written a memoir about life in a family she considered cold. and cruelly characterized.
On Friday, President Trump reimbursed Robert, the brother who had always been faithful, by holding a funeral in the East House of the White House. Robert Trump died last week in New York at 71. The White House gave no case.
It was the first time a president has held a funeral for a family member in nearly 100 years, according to the White House Historical Society. Mr. Trump delivered the eulogy, which lasted about 10 minutes. The guest list was limited to about 150 people, including the president’s eldest son, Donald Trump Jr., and his girlfriend, Kimberly Guilfoyle, as well as an extensive network of relatives.
Other guests included Representative Peter T. King, a Republican from New York, who posted his invitation on Twitter. Vice President Mike Pence and Rudolph W. Giuliani, the former mayor of New York, also attended.
Guests did not wear masks at the funeral, but were given coronavirus tests at the Trump International Hotel in advance.
The White House declined to comment on details because it was a private service, although Mr. Trump eventually allowed reporters to view part of the closing funeral meeting. The president, accompanied by the first lady, Melania Trump, and followed by his younger sister, Elizabeth Trump Gray, kicked pallets across the steps of North Portico as the anthem ‘Abide With Me’ was played on soups. Several of Mr.’s other children. Trump, including Barron and Ivanka, looked up.
The president’s allies said they were not surprised Mr Trump chose his brother’s funeral at the White House.
“Robert Trump, along with his wife, Ann Marie, were allies, supporters and defenders of President Trump,” said Eric Bolling, a conservative media figure who was invited but unable to attend the service.
Robert and Ann Marie Pallan were married this year, more than a decade after he ended his marriage to Blaine Trump. They lived on Long Island, where Robert was often seen at local bars talking about his brother.
The president was well aware of the awards. “He was my biggest fan,” Mr. Trump said this week on “Fox & Friends.” ‘People would tell me all the time,’ I talked to your brother and your brother was so excited. ‘And so excited about what happened. ”
In “Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Made the Most Dangerous Man in the World,” Mary L. Trump, a clinical psychologist and the only cousin of Mr. Trump, how the two brothers work together in an effort to cut their inheritance and health benefits a family trust. Mrs. Trump, the daughter of Fred Trump Jr., the older brother of Mr. Trump who died in 1981, describes Robert Trump as the detainee.
Robert defended his brother in July, when the book of Ms. Trump was published.
“I and the rest of my entire family are so proud of my beautiful brother, the President, and feel that Mary’s actions are truly a disgrace,” Robert Trump said in a statement.
While several presidents, from Kennedy to Lincoln, are able to lie in the East Room, the largest room in the White House, it is unusual to have a funeral there for a relative of a president.
White House officials said Mr. Trump would pay for the funeral expenses, and that his brother’s body was driven out of New York on Friday.
“It’s clearly not something we’ve seen often,” said Anita McBride, a board member of the White House Historical Society and chief of staff to Laura Bush when Mrs. Bush was first lady. “But this is their family home that we lent to them to use when they’re in the office.”
Most funerals at the White House for first-time family members were for children. Among them were Calvin Coolidge Jr., son of President Calvin Coolidge, who died at the age of 16 in 1924 from a blister on his foot, and Willie Lincoln, son of President Abraham Lincoln, who died of typhus at 11 in 1862. . Willie Lincoln was buried in the Green Room and his funeral service was held in the East Room. Ms McBride notes that although Robert Trump did not live in the White House, “President Trump felt this was a way to honor his brother.”
The president’s own remarks about the service were brief. “Robert, I love you,” he wrote on Twitter. “Rest in peace!”
Katie Rogers from Washington, and Maggie Haberman from New York.
