Trump undergoes first physical since retaking office

President Donald Trump, the oldest man to be inaugurated as president, was visiting Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a physical Friday, the first of his new administration.

“I have never felt better, but nevertheless, these things must be done!” Trump, 78, posted on his social media site Monday, when he announced that he would be examined.

The physical could offer the first glimpse of the health of Trump, who has often been guarded about even the most basic medical information since he was shot in an assassination attempt at a campaign rally in July.

He has long been phobic about germs and disease. According to many of his former presidential and business aides, Trump has tried to avoid ever appearing sick.

In 2015, his personal physician at the time, Dr. Harold Bornstein, wrote in a note to the news media that Trump, then a presidential candidate, had “extraordinary” strength and stamina. Bornstein told CNN in 2018 that Trump had personally dictated the letter.

That year, the White House physician at the time, Dr. Ronny Jackson, said that Trump had a calcium score of 133, indicating plaque in his arteries but at a level fairly common for a man of his age.

But the president at times has offered few details about his health. He went for an unexplained visit to Walter Reed in 2019; aides said after his term ended that it was for a colonoscopy. In October 2020, Trump went to Walter Reed as he was battling a far more aggressive case of COVID than his advisers had revealed, one that had infiltrated his lungs. Public health officials from his administration later said privately that had Trump not been given monoclonal antibodies as a treatment, he may not have survived.

Trump’s successor and predecessor, President Joe Biden, was previously the oldest man to enter office, also at 78. Trump, who had a four-year gap between presidencies, was five months and six days older than Biden was when he was inaugurated.

Trump has frequently mocked the age and mental acuity of Biden, who declined visibly during his term. Trump was more visible than Biden during the 2024 campaign and holds some form of an event in front of news cameras multiple days a week. But he has had his own verbal stumbles.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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