Former secretary of state John Kerry took a double-barreled shot at President Trump’s weight and penchant for conspiracies at a black tie event over the weekend.
Appearing at the annual Alfalfa Club dinner in Washington Saturday, Kerry, the former Obama secretary of state, referenced Trump’s recent physical, where the president was found to be in good health but with a weight that scored borderline obese.
‘Despite the pressure he’s under, the White House physician says President Trump is in great shape — a trim 239 pounds. Personally, I just won’t believe him until he produces his long-form girth certificate,’ Kerry joked.
The quip from the possible 2020 contender came after Trump got his first physical from a White House physician, and made Dr. Ronny Jackson available to take questions about his health.
GIRTHER MOVEMENT: Former Secretary of State John Kerry made the joke about Trump in a speech at the Alfalfa Club dinner
It also referenced Trump’s long push for the release of Barack Obama’s birth-certificate, as part of a conspiracy theory that he wasn’t born in the United States.
Obama provided reporters with the certificate he obtained from Hawaii state officials – after himself tearing into Trump at another D.C. society event, the White House Correspondents Dinner.
Jackson told reporters at a White House briefing earlier this month that Trump’s height was 6 foot three and his weight was 239. That prompted an immediate tongue-in-cheek ‘#Girther’ movement online, as online sleuths stacked up Trump next to Obama and professional athletes to question whether it was the president’s real weight.
Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn offered to donate $100,000 to a charity of Trump’s choice if he agreed to step on a scale, and Sports Illustrated made a list of athletes who weight the same as Trump.
LONG-FORM: Kerry, who failed in his 2004 run for president, took a shot at President Trump at the dinner
DON’T BE HIPPOCRATICAL: The results of Trump’s physical results gave birth to an immediate ‘girther’ conspiracy about his weight. Trump famously questioned President Obama’s Hawaii birth
White House Dr. Ronny Johnson said he has urged the president to develop an exercise regimen to protect his health and even went to first lady Melania Trump for help
Barack Obama’s Hawaii birth certifiate
Kerry, 74, was defeated by George W. Bush in 2004, but has been mentioned as a potential 2016 candidate against Trump.
According to a report last month in the Israeli paper Maariv, Kerry told an associate of Palestinian leader Mahmous Abbas that he was considering another presidential run.
‘Hold on and be strong,” Kerry said, according to the report, urging the associate to tell Abbas: “that he should stay strong in his spirit and play for time, that he will not break and will not yield to President [Donald] Trump’s demands.”