Are there private letters or emails from Maryanne Trump that criticize Donald Trump and where can they be found?
Executive summary
There are no news reports in the provided sources that identify private letters or emails from Maryanne Trump Barry criticizing her brother; instead, multiple outlets reported that Mary Trump secretly recorded roughly 15 hours of face‑to‑face conversations in which Maryanne criticized Donald Trump, and those recordings and partial transcripts were published by The Washington Post and summarized or obtained by other major news organizations [1] [2] [3].
1. What actually surfaced: secret audio recordings, not letters or emails
The journalism in the record centers on covertly made audio — Mary Trump told reporters she recorded 15 hours of conversations with her aunt in 2018 and 2019 — and The Washington Post published portions of those recordings and transcripts, which show Maryanne Trump Barry calling her brother “cruel,” saying he “has no principles,” and expressing sharp criticism of his conduct and policies [1] [2] [3].
2. Where the materials were published and who has reported them
The Washington Post first published the recordings and transcripts, and that reporting was picked up and described by The New York Times, CNN, the Associated Press, Politico, CBS News, BBC and others; these outlets either republished excerpts, summarized the content, or said they had obtained the audio/transcripts from The Post or from Mary Trump herself [1] [4] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7].
3. What the recordings contain and how that differs from the letter/email question
The released recordings include candid face‑to‑face remarks by Maryanne about Donald Trump’s character, alleged past behavior (including an allegation about someone else taking his SATs) and his presidential policies, but the coverage does not cite any private letters or emails authored by Maryanne that criticize Donald Trump; the public record as reported in these stories is audio and transcript excerpts rather than written correspondence [1] [2] [3].
4. Context, motives and competing claims in the reporting
Mary Trump, who has spoken and written widely as one of Donald Trump’s most prominent family critics and who published a critical memoir, told The Post she made the recordings partly because she anticipated litigation and wanted to protect herself — a point highlighted by her spokesperson Chris Bastardi and repeated in several outlets — while the White House dismissed the significance and aides framed the secret taping as politically motivated, showing a clash over motive and framing between the tape‑givers and the president’s allies [2] [3].
5. What the record does not show and why that matters
None of the provided sources presents private letters or emails written by Maryanne Trump Barry that criticize Donald Trump; the absence of such documents in this reporting should be read as a limitation of the cited coverage rather than definitive proof such material does not exist, but based on the available mainstream reporting the concrete, attributable source material made public has been audio recordings and transcripts distributed via The Washington Post and reported by other outlets [1] [4] [3].
6. How to locate the published material
To review what the reporting documents, consult The Washington Post’s original story and audio/transcript package as the primary publication cited across these reports; major news organizations — including The New York Times, CNN, AP, Politico, CBS, BBC and the Los Angeles Times — summarized or reproduced portions of that material and their articles provide accessible accounts and links to the Post’s package and to excerpts used in their own coverage [1] [4] [2] [3] [5] [6] [7].