Trump's 4th medical checkup renews public scrutiny of his health

Amna Nawaz:

President Trump's health is under renewed scrutiny this evening, as his more-frequent-than-usual screenings seem at odds with his own proclamations of being in exceptional health.

This morning, he got his fourth publicly announced exam of his second administration.

Our White House correspondent, Liz Landers, is here with what we know and what we don't know about the health of the president.

So, Liz, tell us about today's visit. What do we know?

Liz Landers:

The president was at Walter Reed medical facility for about 3.5 hours. He was also there, apparently, according to the schedule, to meet with troops and to speak with them as well.

But this is the third medical checkup that he's had in about 13 months. He's also had a dental checkup a few weeks ago in Florida. This is the oldest president to ever be inaugurated. But listening to the president and his aides, he's constantly touting his vitality and his health.

He said on TRUTH Social after his visit that he finished his six-month physical and that everything checked out perfectly. We have reached out to the White House to ask for a more detailed readout of what tests were done, what happened while he was there today. White House officials said that they are still working on it. We have not gotten that yet.

But I did speak earlier today with former White House physician Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman. He wrote a book on serving presidents. He served under Clinton, Bush and President Obama. And he said that most 80-year-olds go to the doctor frequently. President Trump is almost 80. So he said that this is likely related to his age and not necessarily to his position as the president.

He also explained that a visit to Walter Reed is usually for more advanced medical checkups, like a colonoscopy, MRI, a CAT scan, things that you cannot do at the doctor's office within the White House. They do have that facility there, Amna, that allows for blood tests, he said, some kinds of dental checkups. And they can also do ultrasounds there as well.

Amna Nawaz:

So, what did Dr. Kuhlman say he would be looking for if he were President Trump's doctor?

Liz Landers:

Dr. Kuhlman said that he has three main things that he's looking for. Here's what he told me earlier today.

Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman:

Specifically for an 80-year-old president, advanced age is by far the number one concern. I'd worry about cardiovascular fitness, cancer, and making sure they don't have neurodegenerative disease.

Liz Landers:

Dr. Kuhlman also said that for a patient the president's age, that he'd want to do a treadmill test to test that cardiovascular health, also a CAT scan of his heart to look at coronary arteries. He said when it comes to cancer that the president has a lower risk of that. He's a nonsmoker and has always been a nondrinker as well.

He said, for cognitive health, that he would recommend doing more advanced cognitive tests than something fast. And I also asked him about some of the images that people have seen of the president. The president has been photographed with swollen ankles recently, also bruises on his hands.

The president has said that the bruises on his hands are from aspirin use and handshaking. He has covered those up with makeup. Dr. Kuhlman said that those can be benign explanations as for why the president may have those swollen ankles and those bruising on his hands, but he's concerned about the transparency around that and maybe that the public is not getting all the information that they need.

Amna Nawaz:

We will see if the White House releases more information.

In the meantime, some of the president's activity has caught the public's attention as well, specifically things like his late-night social media activity, a lot of flurry of tweets and so on, the habit of closing his eyes during some daytime meetings.

Liz Landers:

Yes.

Amna Nawaz:

What did the doctors say about the president's sleep habits?

Liz Landers:

The president has been posting really late at night, sometimes after 1:00 in the morning. We have seen some recent examples of that. Dr. Kuhlman's take on that was that he thinks that people that survive on sleep deprivation, it's actually not good for your mental or physical health.

So he did have some concerns about some of the late-night posting that we have seen from the president. He also noted that President Biden was evaluated for this and used a CPAP for sleeping. And President Trump has attacked President Biden consistently for his lack of energy and stumbling during public events.

But critics of President Trump have noted recently some of those moments where his eyes are closed in meetings, Amna.

Amna Nawaz:

All right, our White House correspondent, Liz Landers.

Liz, thank you.

Liz Landers:

Of course.