Donald Trump’s Nephew Recalls Family History of Dementia (Exclusive)

Donald Trump‘s cousin Fred C. Trump III talks about his family’s often overlooked history of dementia — and how his uncle’s recent behavior reminds him of the other Trumps who have dealt with cognitive health issues, including Donald’s father.

“Like anyone else, I’ve seen his decline. But I see it parallel to the way my grandfather declined,” Fred, 61, tells PEOPLE of Donald, 78, who has sometimes downplayed his father’s symptoms. “If anyone wants to believe that dementia did not run in the Trump family, that is simply not true.”

As Election Day approaches, Fred says it’s “frustrating” that speculation about the candidates’ mental fitness this election cycle hasn’t been accompanied by a closer look at their family history. “People (who don’t know the candidates) would diagnose, if you will, Biden, and diagnose Donald. I’ve never heard anyone say, “Oh, let’s look at the family history of one of these two people.” ”

The former president’s campaign dismissed the following interview as “completely fabricated and totally fake news.”

Fred’s first brush with a loved one showing signs of dementia came when his eponymous grandfather, Frederick Christ Trump Sr.was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. He says Donald’s cousin, John Walter, also had dementia, and Donald’s late sister, Maryanne Trump Barrypreviously showed similar symptoms her death last yeardespite never being diagnosed.

Fred remembers his grandfather’s decline that began in the 1980s, “with some of the similar stories you’ve heard over and over again, that when his limousine pulled up, he would just get out of the car and walk away.”

Fred Sr.’s behavior became a norm for those around him, his grandson says. “You know, things that almost make you say, ‘Oh, there goes grandpa again.’ ”

“You have to understand,” the younger Fred adds, “he still went to work every day – that was part of it.”

Fred Sr.’s continued employment “was to give my grandmother (Mary Anne MacLeod Trump) rest and not have him in the house,” he tells PEOPLE. “My grandmother always called it the 36-hour day because I was around my grandfather, who had Alzheimer’s.”

Fred – who described his experiences growing up in the Trump dynasty in his recent book: All in the Family: The Trumps and How We Came to Be This Way – recalls that his grandfather “became a little more agitated” as his condition worsened.

“He was yelling, and I witnessed it, yelling at my grandmother because she was spending too much money,” says Fred, recalling that money was not an issue for Fred Sr. The behavior “kept escalating and escalating, to the point where doctors said to my grandmother, ‘You really shouldn’t stay in the same bedroom with him at night.’ ”

Fred, the son of Donald’s late brother Fred Trump Jr., clarified that he never saw or heard his grandfather become physically violent towards his grandmother, but was instead “agitated in his language and mean.”

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He also claims that Donald’s sister, Maryanne, appeared to be showing signs of dementia before her death on November 13, 2023.

“One of the last times I saw Maryanne, she said, ‘You know, I only met your wife Lisa once.’ And I was a little surprised about that… I said, “Well, you’ve met Lisa hundreds of times in the almost forty years you’ve known her, as long as I have.” ”

Fred specifically remembers his grandfather’s experience with dementia and claims that in recent years he has witnessed similarities with his uncle Donald, who has not released any recent medical records. the oldest presidential candidate in American history.

One specific interaction comes to mind for Fred, when he encountered Donald at Mar-a-Lago in 2023.

“He just looked disoriented and he kept repeating something to me over and over again when I met him,” Fred tells PEOPLE. “He kept repeating things, and he just looked different. He looked tired.”

Fred says he has noticed that his uncle has also lately “had no inhibitions about cursing in front of anyone,” and while he acknowledges that “Donald has always sworn,” his cousin describes recent communications from the former president as “downright filth.”

Fred, who decided to go back Kamala Harrispresidential campaign, explains: “I always have to deny: I’m not a neurologist, I’m not a psychologist, I’m not a doctor.” But based on his family experiences, he says, “I see qualities in Donald that are unhappy.”

Recalling one of Donald’s first meetings with Fred’s son William, who has complications due to a rare genetic mutationFred says Donald rejects Lisa’s explanation of William’s condition.

“When Lisa and I went to see Donald, and he said, ‘What’s wrong with William?’ And Lisa says, “Well, he has a problem with one of his genes, a gene mutation,” and Donald immediately says, “Not our genes.” Fred claims. “He can never admit that there is a mental or physical flaw in anyone in the family.”

Donald’s cousin – who claims in his book that the former president once told him disabled Americans ‘should just die’ because of the “cost” and “the shape they’re in,” which Donald’s campaign adamantly denied — tells PEOPLE he thinks the former president is probably playing up “the old projecting thing” through any flaws in his family’s medical history to deny.

“He can never open the negative door for the family,” says Fred. “Because if he admitted that my grandfather had dementia, that’s almost admitting that he has the possibility of having dementia.”

In a statement responding to Fred’s criticism, Donald told PEOPLE that he has offered his cousin a lot of support, “more than anyone in his life, and this is the thanks I get.” Donald’s son Erik added in a statement that his cousin’s claims are “nonsense.”

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The potential that Americans could elect Donald to the White House again without certainty about his cognitive health worries Fred, after a series of campaign flubs in which the former president has mixed up the names of world leaders, slurred his speech and relied on increasingly more violent rhetoric about his opponents.

“My grandfather unfortunately threatened my grandmother (late in life), and that was terrible. And I witnessed it,” says Fred. “But my grandfather had no decision-making that would impact the world. The biggest implication is, ‘Does my grandmother sleep in another bedroom to stay away from him when he wanders around the house at two in the afternoon? ‘ the morning?’ ”

But for Donald, he adds, “this is potentially the most important person in the world.”