United States President Donald Trump underwent his first annual medical examination on Friday since returning to the presidency, turning attention to the 78-year-old leader who holds the record as the oldest person ever elected to the office and who has long faced criticism over the transparency of his health disclosures.
The Republican president, now in his second term, has frequently bragged about his physical stamina while ridiculing his 82-year-old Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, as physically frail and mentally unfit for the demands of the presidency.
However, with his own medical now underway, Trump has become the subject of close scrutiny. The former businessman was scheduled to arrive at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, located in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., at 11:00 a.m. (1500 GMT), with the examination expected to last approximately five hours.
“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump wrote earlier this week on Truth Social, his social media platform.
Presidential physician Sean Barbabella is leading the exam, though it remained unclear as of Friday when the results would be made public or how comprehensive the information would be.
Despite intense public interest in the health of the U.S. commander-in-chief, Trump has often faced accusations of secrecy and evasion concerning his medical status. Known to be a teetotaler and a non-smoker, Trump is also a frequent golfer. However, he is equally famous for his fondness for fast food and well-done steaks. In recent months, observers have noted that he appears slimmer than during his first term.
Throughout his political career, Trump’s doctors have made headlines with sweeping—and at times dubious—claims about his health. In 2015, during his first presidential campaign, Dr. Harold Bornstein released a letter declaring that Trump “unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
Bornstein later revealed to CNN that the letter was not his own assessment. “Trump himself dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” he said.
During Trump’s first term in office, then-White House physician Ronny Jackson issued a glowing health report in 2018, stating that the president could “live to be 200 years old” with improved dietary habits. Jackson’s assessment noted that Trump was in “excellent health” overall and showed no signs of “any cognitive issues,” although he recommended that the president lose 10 to 15 pounds.
A year later, in a 2019 examination, Trump was measured at 6 feet 3 inches (1.9 meters) tall and weighed 243 pounds (110 kilograms), an increase of seven pounds from his pre-presidency check-up. The results placed him in the medically obese category. He was also reported to be taking medication to manage high cholesterol levels.
In 2020, Trump made headlines when he told Fox News that he had “aced” a cognitive test designed to detect impairment, recalling the words “person, woman, man, camera, TV” as part of the assessment.
The issue of age took centre stage during the 2024 U.S. presidential election, as Trump and Biden became the two oldest candidates ever to lead their respective parties in a general election. Biden eventually withdrew from the race following a widely criticised television debate performance against Trump in June, which raised further concerns about his mental sharpness.
Since reclaiming the White House, Trump has frequently drawn comparisons between his own perceived vitality and Biden’s struggles. Meanwhile, the current administration has accused Biden’s former aides of concealing the extent of his cognitive decline, further fuelling political tension over presidential health transparency.
