A prominent doctor pressed the White House for answers after President Donald Trump’s recent medical exam and subsequent weeklong disappearance from the public eye.
Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine at George Washington University and Dick Cheney’s longtime cardiologist, took to X to express his unease on Wednesday.
“With lingering concerns following the president’s recent physical exam, and the president’s prolonged absence from the public eye, the White House should make available the president’s physician to answer questions from the press,” Reiner wrote.
Trump, who will turn 80 next month, visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on May 26 for his third medical checkup in just over a year, as polls show many Americans are concerned about his fitness to serve.
After a Cabinet meeting the following day, the president disappeared from public view. He did not attend any public or press-accessible events until one week later, when the White House abruptly welcomed reporters to a previously “closed press” executive order signing.
The White House has expressed that there is no cause for alarm. Trump boasted on social media that the results of his medical had “checked out PERFECTLY.” His physician, Sean Barbabella, wrote in a Friday report that the president “remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function.”
However, apparent holes in the report — coupled with the president’s recent absence — have intensified concerns over White House transparency.
A group of physicians told The Wall Street Journal that the results of several tests Trump underwent — including a coronary CT angiography, echocardiogram, and ultrasound — were missing key details that typically accompany such exams.
“If I was creating a report to send to another physician, I would have mentioned a little bit more about the carotid ultrasound,” Dr. William Shutze, a Texas vascular surgeon, told the outlet. “What amount of plaque there is going to be — because almost all of us are going to have some buildup there.”
The president’s latest medical report also made no mention of a hair loss drug that has appeared in previous reports, The Washington Post reported.
For years, the Republican president took finasteride, a commonly used medication to prevent male-pattern hair loss. Three of his previous doctors confirmed he used the drug both before and during his first term in office. However, the orally administered drug was not mentioned in the latest report.
“It raises significant questions of what else is possibly not being revealed,” Robert Klitzman, a Columbia University psychiatrist, told the Post, noting that Finasteride has been tied to an increased risk of depression.
“An incomplete medical report is not a credible report,” Reiner wrote on X in response to the story. “They can’t pick and choose which data they’re willing to report. What else is missing?”
The medical report further downplayed recurring bruising on the president’s hands, attributing it to “frequent handshaking,” and said his “lower leg swelling” had improved since last year.
In addition to the bruises and swelling, the president’s apparent drowsiness during some meetings has triggered scrutiny for months.
In May, Reiner told CNN: “The president has severe daytime somnolence. He falls asleep very often. He’s fallen asleep in the Oval Office on multiple occasions with people talking to him, in the cabinet room. And chronic insomnia is a severe illness.”
The White House, however, has dismissed Reiner’s concerns.
“President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history and any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle previously told The Independent.
The White House’s rapid-response account on X has also posted screengrabs of CNN reporters with their eyes closed, sarcastically suggesting they’ve fallen asleep.
Multiple polls, meanwhile, suggest many Americans have questions about Trump’s fitness for office. In a May Ipsos poll, 55 percent of respondents said he lacks the physical health to serve, while 59 percent said he doesn’t have the necessary mental acuity.
The Independent has reached out to the White House for comment.
