Trump campaign adviser dismisses leaked Maryanne Trump Barry recording as ‘sibling rivalry’

Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller said Sunday that the allegations of dishonesty raised by President Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, during a conversation with the president’s niece, Mary Trump, reflected nothing more than a “sibling rivalry.”

In an interview with NBC’S  “Meet the Press,” Miller compared comments made by Trump Barry in recordings provided to The Washington Post by Mary Trump to remarks made about former President Barack Obama by Malik Obama, the former president’s half-brother, during the 2016 campaign.

{mosads}”Sibling rivalries are nothing new in the world. It’s been going on since the beginning of time, in fact, we heard some pretty pointed commentary from Malik Obama about former President Barack Obama,” Miller said. “And so, this is something unfortunately when you get to the White House you have family members who sometimes decide to voice their sibling rivalries or frustrations.”

“[In] my conversations with the president over the years, I’ve only heard him say positive things about his sister, as someone who’s a very accomplished judge,” Miller added.

Miller’s comments come after the publication of the audio recordings a day earlier.  Trump Barry can be heard complaining about the substance of her brother’s Twitter posts as well as claiming that he had someone else take his college entrance exam in his place.

“His goddamned tweets and lying, oh my God,” she can be heard saying. “I’m talking too freely, but you know. The change of stories. The lack of preparation. The lying. Holy shit.”

“It’s the phoniness of it all. It’s the phoniness and this cruelty. Donald is cruel,” Trump Barry adds.

Miller was also questioned during the interview Sunday about the recent arrest of former White House adviser Stephen Bannon, who along with others has been charged with defrauding donors of a privately funded section of border wall.

“These allegations are very serious and I hope that Steve has some good answers for the things that he’s been accused of. It’s not something that I worked on. I don’t know anything about the financial dealings of this organization or how it worked, and I hope Steve has the opportunity to tell his side of the story,” said Miller.

Bannon has plead not guilty to the charges, while the White House said in a statement last week that the president had no knowledge or involvement in the project.

“President Trump has not been involved with Steve Bannon since the campaign and the early part of the Administration, and he does not know the people involved with this project,” said press secretary Kayleigh McEnany.