Trump visits brother, Robert, at New York hospital

A worried President Trump paid a visit Friday to his brother, Robert Trump, at a New York hospital after administration officials said the president’s youngest brother was “very ill.”

The president, 74, entered New York-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell Medical Center in Manhattan wearing a face mask on Friday afternoon.

“I have a wonderful brother,” Trump said at a White House news conference. “We’ve had a great relationship for a long time, on day one. He’s in the hospital right now. Hopefully, he’ll be alright, but he is having a hard time.”

In June, Robert Trump, 72, was hospitalized in the intensive care unit at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York for more than a week.

But he had been well enough in recent weeks to lead a lawsuit on behalf of the Trump family which had been trying to stop publication of a tell-all book by the president’s niece, Mary, titled “Too Much and Never Enough”.

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The Trump family claimed Mary Trump’s book was a violation of a nondisclosure agreement she signed in connection to a financial settlement she received from the family years before.

In her book, Mary Trump claimed that no family members joined Fred Jr., who was known as Freddy, at the hospital on the night he died, adding that Donald Trump went to the movies with another sibling instead.

Robert Trump said at the time that he was “deeply disappointed” in his niece’s decision to air the family’s dirty laundry, and that he and the “entire family” were “so proud of my wonderful brother, the president.”

President Trump arrived by helicopter in lower Manhattan on Friday afternoon and was escorted by NYPD patrol cars as hundreds of New Yorkers gathered for Trump’s brief trek uptown past New York-Presbyterian Hospital for the family visit.

Trump’s brief appearance was met with overwhelming criticism — and surprising support.

“You are ruining this country!” one critic screamed, as the presidential motorcade traveled along York Avenue. Others yelled, “Trump, you’re the best!”

One group of middle-aged Hispanic women chanted “Arriba, Trump!” and “Hispanics for Trump” at least a dozen times.

One of the women, Trump superfan Regina Acosta, has supported Trump since 2016, saying that she showed up because the hospital visit was a “snapshot of history.”

“I hope his brother is okay. I’m here showing my respect. I’m here in support of the President,” Acosta said moments after fangirling over Trump. “As a Cuban American woman, my parents fled communism. We’ve seen both sides and Trump is on the right side of history.”

Upon leaving the hospital, he took Marine One to his Bedminister, N.J. golf resort, where he will deliver remarks to the City of New York Police Benevolent Association.

Fred Trump Jr., the president’s older brother, died in 1981 at the age of 43 from complications with alcoholism. His brother’s early death has had a profound influence on the president’s life, and he has said he never drinks because of it.

His older sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, just retired recently as a federal judge.

Siblings Robert Trump and Elizabeth Trump Grau were both retired business executives.