US President Donald Trump’s niece, Mary Trump, taped 15 hours of face-to-face conversations with her aunt Maryanne between 2018 and 2019.
The audiotapes were first published by The Washington Post on Saturday -- but the paper didn’t include the audio of Maryanne discussing the president’s Twitter habits.
“Cut off his Twitter account,” Maryanne said in the recording.
Trump’s niece Mary responded: “that could potentially save the future of the planet, if they just wouldn’t let him on Twitter”.
Maryanne then replied: “Well, that’s right. I said that to him about, six months, a year ago. ‘Get rid of Twitter. Stop this’.’”
In the audiotapes, first published by The Washington Post, Maryanne said the US President was cruel, and criticised his immigration policy that saw children separated from their parents at the border.
President Donald Trump speaks during an event in Ohio. Source: AAP
"All he wants to do is appeal to his base," she said.
"He has no principles. None."
Maryanne, an 83-year-old retired federal judge, is also heard accusing her brother of lying.
“His goddamned tweet and the lying, oh my God,” she said.
“I'm talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”
Maryanne also claimed Trump got into the University of Pennsylvania because he had someone else take his SAT exams.
“He was a brat...I did his homework for him [and] I drove him around New York City to try to get him into college,” Maryanne said in the recordings.
The tapes come after Mary Trump published an explosive book ‘Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World’s Most Dangerous Man’ that details Trump’s upbringing.
Mary is a trained clinical psychologist and the daughter of Trump’s late brother Fred Trump Jr. In her book, she claims the US president exhibits all the characteristics of a narcissist.
She also claims Trump and his father Fred Trump Sr. bullied her father -- an alcoholic who died when she was 16.
Trump’s younger brother Robert, who died recently, failed to block the publication of Mary’s book in court.
“Every day it’s something else, who cares,” President Trump said of the book in a White House statement.
“I miss my brother, and I’ll continue to work hard for the American people. Not everyone agrees, but the results are obvious,” he added.
“Our country will soon be stronger than ever before.”
