President Donald Trump ‘is in excellent health’ and his first physical in office ‘went exceptionally well’, a Navy doctor has said.
Navy doctor Ronny Jackson issued his positive verdict on the president’s health on Friday after examining Trump at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
The doctor said further details would be available after he complied test results over the three-day weekend, when Trump has returned to the White House from Mar-a-Lago.
‘I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday,’ Jackson said in a statement reported by USA Today.
President Donald Trump ‘is in excellent health’ and his first physical in office ‘went exceptionally well’, a Navy doctor has said
US President Donald Trump and physician Dr. Ronny Jackson are seen hear at the White House in August (left) with the VA secretary
Trump did not undergo a psychological evaluation today in spite of a pervasive complaints among his critics that he’s mentally unfit to sit in the Oval Office.
After his physical this afternoon, Trump left Washington for Palm Beach, where he’ll remain through Martin Luther King Jr. Day.
Trump honored the civil rights movement hero this morning with a proclamation.
Yesterday, Trump predicted his first health checkup by a military physician would go ‘very well.’ Adding, ‘I’ll be very surprised if it doesn’t.’
Trump will get a physical from Navy Dr. Ronny Jackson, a holdover from the previous administration
Then he quipped: ‘It better go well otherwise the stock market will not be happy,’ linking his own health to the Wall Street’s boom.
And in a new demonstration of transparency, Trump’s spokeswoman said Jackson will head to the White House next week to take questions from reporters about the president’s health.
‘He’ll join me here on Tuesday to give a detailed readout of the president’s exam and then answer a few questions from you guys,’ said White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders at her daily press briefing.
Trump’s head-to-toe exam today comes as questions about the health and fitness – he’s oldest person ever elected to the nation’s highest office – have become top of mind.
A Quinnipiac poll released on Wednesday revealed that 69 of voters now believe that Trump is not level-headed, and that a majority, 57 percent, have decided he’s not fit for office. Trump’s intelligence was also a matter of debate among registered voters, with 53 percent declaring him smart and 44 percent saying he’s not.
The septuagenarian president had pushed back vigorously against suggestions he’s in mental decline over the weekend, declaring himself ‘a very stable genius,’ in a tweet.
That followed the release of a new book, ‘Fire and Fury,’ which maintains his close advisors have doubts about his mental fitness for office.
Trump will get a physical from Navy Dr. Ronny Jackson. His previous physical was from personal physician Dr. Harold Bornstein
Trump was 70 when he was inaugurated a year ago to handle the 24/7 demands of being president. Ronald Reagan, who served two terms, was a year younger when he took office in 1981.
The president’s personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, famously released a letter during the campaign that pronounced Trump to be the healthiest person ever to hold office.
‘If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,’ wrote Bornstein, who provided care for Trump for 35 years.
‘His health is excellent, especially his mental health,’ Bornstein told NBC afterward.
Trump heightened concerns last month about his health when he slurred some words on national TV.
Sanders said then that questions about Trump’s health were ‘frankly, pretty ridiculous’ and blamed his slurred speech on a dry throat, ‘nothing more than that.’ A routine annual physical was quickly scheduled for the president, though, at Walter Reed.
More questions have been raised in the weeks since the incident, particularly after his tweet boasting about the size of his ‘nuclear button and the reported comments of some of the people who deal with him day to day in ‘Fire and Fury.’
Sanders denounced the book as ‘complete fantasy’ for its portrayal of Trump as undisciplined, child-like and in over his head and said that North Korea’s leader Kim Jong-un is the one who should have his head checked for starting the spat with Trump over nukes.
Trump’s personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, released the only medical evaluation of Trump during the campaign
The claims ‘Fire and Fury’ author Michael Wolff that ‘100 percent’ of the people close to him believe he’s incompetent clearly unnevered Trump.
On Saturday he tweeted that his two greatest assets in life ‘have been mental stability and being, like, really smart.’ Trump made note of his past successes in business, reality TV and presidential politics, saying: ‘I think that would qualify as not smart, but genius … and a very stable genius at that!’
There is no requirement for a president to have a physical, but modern officeholders undergo them regularly and release a doctor’s report stating that they are ‘fit to serve.’
Jackson conducted Barack Obama’s last three physicals before he left office, and the White House says he’ll assess President Trump.
Trump’s last known checkup was In September 2016, during the presidential campaign. He released a five-paragraph letter from Dr. Harold Bornstein then, a gastroenterologist, that said he ‘is in excellent physical health.’
Bornstein has previously said in a December 2015 letter, ‘If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.’
Trump appeared on ‘The Dr. Oz Show’ after his physical last year to say he felt great, while releasing his cholesterol levels and cancer screenings.
The president’s blood pressure and cholesterol measurements were healthy in Bornstein’s last report, although Trump does use Crestor, a cholesterol-lowering medication. He also uses Propecia, a treatment for male baldness, and an antibiotic for rosacea.
At 6-foot-3, Trump weighed 236 pounds, and his body mass index, BMI, was 29.5, which makes him overweight.
Trump told Oz his workout consists of moving his hands while he’s orating at rallies.
‘A lot of times these rooms are very hot, like saunas,’ Trump said, ‘and I guess that’s a form of exercise.’
The president’s diet and exercise regimen have been widely panned as unhealthy for anyone of any age. Federal guidelines encourage senior citizens to exercise at least twice a week.
At 236 pounds, the president told Dr. Oz he’d like to shed 15-20 off his weight. His only known form of exercise, though, since he took office is his frequent trips to his properties to go golfing.
Trump’s health is especially concerning, considering that the president is said to have gobbled down McDonalds and consumed copious amounts of Diet Coke on the campaign. A recent New York Times profile revealed his 12-a-day soft drink habit, and Wolff claimed that he often eats cheeseburgers for dinner while watching TV in bed.
HOLD THE MAYO: President Donald Trump speaks during a meeting with lawmakers on immigration policy in the Cabinet Room of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2018, in Washington. Trump is getting his first medical checkup since taking office later in the week
The president’s former campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, wrote in his election memoir that Trump ate two Big Mac sandwiches, two Fillet-O-Fish and chocolate shake in a single sitting once.
‘There were four major food groups: McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke,’ he says in ‘Let Trump be Trump.’
Lewandowski also wrote in the book he co-authored with David Bossie, a former Trump deputy campaign head, ‘Like an amazing professional athlete who has a routine that they do all the time when they’re ready for a big game.’
If Trump really did inhale four McDonald’s sandwiches and a shake every day, he’d be hitting nearly 2,500 calories each meal.
Lewandowski claimed later, in a television interview, that Trump did not eat the buns that came with the sandwiches – just the meat – cutting down on his total calorie intake.