The White House released details of Donald Trump’s recent “comprehensive executive physical” on Monday, after the president admitted Sunday night that he had “no idea” which part of his body was the subject of a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scan.
Trump, the oldest US president to date, underwent a surprise “semiannual physical” procedure on October 10 and faced questions about it from reporters on Air Force One while flying back to Washington DC after the Thanksgiving holiday in Florida.
It was the latest episode of repeated concerns about the cognitive abilities and mental fitness of the 79-year-old, who insisted he had “passed” earlier tests relating to the functioning of his brain.
“It was just an MRI,” he said. “What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test, and I passed it.”
At lunchtime Monday, possibly in response to growing unease about Trump’s health, the White House released a memo from U.S. Navy Captain Sean Barbella, who serves as the president’s physician.
It added that as part of the physical, Trump had to undergo “advanced imaging” as men in his age group benefit from a thorough evaluation of heart and gut health.
Barbabella reported that: “President Trump’s cardiac imaging is completely normal. There is no evidence of impaired blood flow from arterial narrowing or abnormalities in the heart or major vessels. The heart chambers are normal in size, the walls of the blood vessels appear smooth and healthy, and there is no sign of inflammation or clots. Overall, his cardiovascular system appears to be in excellent health.”
It said imaging of Trump’s abdomen was “absolutely normal” and there were “no serious or chronic concerns.”
A summary stated that “This level of detailed evaluation is standard for an executive physical at President Trump’s age and confirms that he remains in excellent overall health”.
Specifically, the report stated that cardiovascular and abdominal imaging were conducted “as part” of the medical examination and did not disclose whether any other parts of Trump’s body were subjected to any imaging or analysis. MRI scans of the brain, spinal cord and peripheral nervous system are common for diagnosing neurological conditions, including stroke, tumors or degenerative conditions.
Trump was vague about the scan after his visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, which White House press secretary Carolyn Leavitt at the time characterized as a “routine annual checkup,” even though he had an annual physical in April.
In November he said, “I don’t know what analysis they do, but whatever analysis they do, they analyzed it thoroughly and they said I have as good a result as they’ve ever seen.” “The doctor said it was the best result he had ever seen as a doctor.”
Tim Walz, the Democratic governor of Minnesota and Kamala Harris’s running mate in the 2024 election won by Trump, criticized the president in an appearance on NBC’s Meet the Press on Sunday.
“Has anyone ever in the history of the world been assigned an MRI and had no idea what it was for, as he says?” Walz said.
“It’s clear the president is fading physically. I think the mental capacity, again, you know, to go crazy about everything else at midnight on Thanksgiving, is why we should be concerned.”
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Walz was referring to lengthy and extensive late-night posts made by Trump on his Truth social platform on Thursday, which featured considerable anti-immigrant rhetoric following the shooting of two National Guard members in Washington a day earlier.
The suspect, an Afghan national, was admitted to the US in September 2021 under the visa program for government assistance workers during Joe Biden’s administration. He was granted asylum in April, three months into the Trump administration.
Trump’s post also referred to Walz as an old slur for the mentally disabled — and extended past racial slurs from Somalia-born Democratic Minnesota Congresswoman Ilhan Omar.
The president returned to the topic Sunday during a call with reporters aboard Air Force One, repeating the unproven allegation that Omar, an outspoken critic, married her own brother to gain entry to the United States.
“If that’s true, he should not be a member of Congress and we should kick him out of our country,” Trump said.
After arriving back at the White House Sunday night, Trump returned to Truth Social to post another scathing message directed at his political rival, Democratic Arizona Senator, former astronaut and retired Navy Captain Mark Kelly. In November the president said Kelly and other congressional Democrats had engaged in “treasonous behavior, punishable by death” for telling military personnel that they were allowed to disobey illegal orders from superiors.
According to the Daily Beast, Trump made several attempts to correct grammar and spelling in the post, which referenced a law that calls for a prison sentence of up to 10 years for anyone attempting to “interfere with, impair, or influence the loyalty, morals or discipline of the military.”
The Beast posted screenshots of the posts together in which Trump allegedly corrected “There are laws that impact our nation” to “There are laws that impact our nation.”
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