President Donald Trump's medical exam 'went exceptionally well,' doctor says
- President Trump received his first-ever medical exam as president on Friday.
- The doctor in charge of the exam said it "went exceptionally well."
- The White House physician who supervised the exam will brief reporters about its findings on Tuesday.
President Donald Trump on Friday received his annual medical checkup, his first ever while serving as commander in chief.
The doctor in charge of the exam said it "went exceptionally well," although he did not divulge any further details.
Trump's checkup, conducted by Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, did not include a psychiatric exam, despite recent questions being raised about his mental faculties.
He walked out of the hospital Friday afternoon. Trump on Thursday had said he expected his exam would "go very well."
"I'll be very surprised if it doesn't," said the 71-year-old Trump, who last January became the oldest person ever to take office as president.
"It better go well. Otherwise the stock market will not be happy."
Trump's exam took place under the supervision of Dr. Ronny Jackson, the White House physician.
Jackson, who presided over President Barack Obama's last physical in office in 2016, issued a brief statement on the physical Friday evening.
"The President's physical exam today at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center went exceptionally well. The President is in excellent health and I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday," Jackson said.
On Tuesday, Jackson plans to take questions from reporters at the White House about the exam.
Trump's personal physician, Dr. Harold Bornstein, in December 2015 had issued a letter about the then-presidential candidate's health.
"If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency," Bornstein wrote.
In September 2016, Bornstein issued another letter that said Trump was 6-foot-3-inches tall and weighed 236 pounds. Tests for cholesterol, blood pressure, blood sugar and other readings "are all well within the normal range," Bornstein wrote.
He said Trump, who does not use alcohol or tobacco, takes medication to control his cholesterol and also takes a low-dose aspirin daily.
"Mr. Trump is in excellent health," the doctor wrote.
Bornstein's confidence aside, there have been questions raised about both Trump's diet and his mental health.
The president has a well-known penchant for fast food and an aversion to exercise. In their new book "Let Trump Be Trump," former Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski and ex-campaign aide David Bossie wrote that "Trump's appetite seems to know no bounds when it comes to McDonald's."
The duo wrote that a typical dinner for the billionaire real-estate mogul was "two Big Macs, two Fillet-O-Fish and a chocolate" shake. That dinner contains 2,430 calories.
On Trump's jet during the campaign, "There were four major food groups: McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, pizza and Diet Coke," Lewandowski and Bossie wrote. The New York Times has reported that Trump drinks 12 Diet Cokes daily.
While Bornstein wrote in late 2015 that Trump had recently lost "at least 15 pounds," the president appears to have put on weight while in office.
Last year, during a visit with world leaders in Sicily, Italy, Trump opted not to walk with them a length of about two football fields for a group photo, but instead waited for a golf cart to take him the short distance.
Last week, another new book, Michael Wolff's "Fire and Fury," raised questions about Trump's mental competency. Wolff told NBC News that Trump has had an increasing tendency to repeat the same stories within a short amount of time.
He also said that the question of whether to invoke the Constitution's 25th Amendment, which allows for a president to be removed from office if he is deemed "unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office," is frequently discussed in the White House.
Trump administration officials blasted Wolff's claims, and the president's lawyer demanded, unsuccessfully, that the book not be published.
Trump himself used Twitter to lash out against Wolff and specifically compared himself to Ronald Reagan, who was the target of claims that his mental capacity diminished in office. Reagan was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease after leaving the White House.