Donald Trump underwent his annual medical check-up on Friday, a procedure that may provide the public with its first insights in years regarding the health of a man who, as of January, set the record as the oldest individual in US history to take the presidential oath.
“I’ve never felt better, but these examinations are necessary!” the 78-year-old stated on his social media platform prior to the assessment, which took place at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
The duration of the exam remains unclear, but overall, he was at the medical center for over five hours before boarding Air Force One to fly to Florida for the weekend.
While Trump has frequently questioned former President Joe Biden’s physical and mental capabilities, he has traditionally kept information about his own health private, avoiding the customary presidential transparency concerning medical matters.
If previous experiences are any guide, his most recent medical evaluation is expected to yield a favorable report that lacks specific details. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt assured that a “summary from the White House physician” would be provided “as soon as possible,” indicating that it would be thorough.
“I can confirm the president is in very good health,” Leavitt mentioned, adding that the physical examination did not require Trump to be placed under anesthesia.
A White House physician in 2018 stated that Trump was in overall excellent condition but needed to lose weight and adopt a daily exercise regimen.
The forthcoming medical report will be the first public accounting of Trump’s health since an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
At that time, rather than releasing medical records, Texas Representative Ronny Jackson – a devoted Trump supporter – issued a memo describing a gunshot wound to Trump’s right ear.
In a later interview with CBS in August of the previous year, Trump expressed his willingness to release his medical records but never followed through.
Trump is three years younger than Biden; however, on the Inauguration Day of his second term in January, Trump was five months older than Biden was during his own 2021 inauguration, marking Trump as the oldest president to take office in the nation’s history.
Presidents maintain privacy rights concerning their medical records, similar to ordinary citizens, allowing them discretion over what information is disclosed. Nonetheless, modern annual physicals have historically provided the public with insights into the commander-in-chief’s health, despite notable instances of concealing serious medical issues, as seen with President Woodrow Wilson’s significant stroke in 1919.
Trump has consistently chosen to disclose minimal substantive information about his health. Before Jackson’s memo, Americans had not seen crucial health details since November 2023, when Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald released a letter coinciding with Biden’s 81st birthday, asserting that Trump was in “excellent” physical and mental condition.
The letter, shared on Trump’s social media platform, omitted fundamental details like the Republican’s weight, blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and test results. Instead, Aronwald noted that after examining Trump, he determined that his “physical exams were well within normal ranges and his cognitive evaluations were exceptional,” while also mentioning that Trump had “reduced his weight.”
Arguably, Trump’s most notable remarks regarding his health occurred during a television interview in July 2020, when he recited “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV” in an attempt to showcase his cognitive abilities.
Trump stated that listing those five nouns, or similar ones, in sequence exhibited mental fitness and was part of a cognitive test he had successfully completed.
With Associated Press and Reuters
