Trump insists MRI outcomes had been ‘good’ – however has ‘no concept’ which physique half was scanned
He also said he would be happy for his recent MRI test to be released as he insulted two reporters while boasting about his brain power.
US president Donald Trump says will release the results of his MRI test that he received in October – but assured the public he has a ‘perfect’ brain. The health update comes in the wake of previous criticisms of his predecessor, Joe Biden, and health concerns that marred his presidency and eventual withdrawal from the last US election.
Trump met with White House pool reporters after he and Melania Trump touched down in Maryland on Sunday evening, where he was asked again about the specifics of his imaging test at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last month., the Irish Star reports.
The White House has so far declined to explain why the US president underwent an MRI during his physical last month. Trump, however, told the press on Sunday that he will happily release his MRI results.
“If you want to have it released, I’ll release it,” the president said during an exchange with reporters as he traveled back to Washington from Florida.
He added that the results of the MRI were “perfect.”
The US President also told the press on Sunday that he has “no idea” on what part of his body he got the MRI, as he boasted that he “aced” other tests taken in October.
“It was just an MRI,” he said. “What part of the body? It wasn’t the brain, because I took a cognitive test and I aced it.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt has previously said that the president received “advanced imaging” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center “as part of his routine physical examination”.
She added that the results showed Trump remains in “exceptional physical health.”
Trump spent roughly three hours at the Bethesda, Maryland, hospital in early October for what his doctor, Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, called a “scheduled follow-up evaluation” that was a “part of his ongoing health maintenance plan.” While there, Trump also got his yearly flu shot, as well as a COVID-19 booster vaccine, AP reported.
Barbabella also said he evaluated Trump’s cardiac age, which was about 14 years younger than his chronological age. Trump is 79 and was the oldest US president at his inauguration.
The White House initially described Trump’s Walter Reed visit as a “routine yearly checkup,” although Trump had his annual physical in April. The president then called it a “semiannual physical.”
Trump also mentioned in October that he took a cognitive test during his physical exam, a point he used to insult Democratic representatives Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Jasmine Crockett by calling them “low IQ” and suggesting they wouldn’t do well on the same test.
“Those are really hard, they’re really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way. But they’re cognitive tests,” he said. “The first couple of questions are easy. A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know. When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn’t come close to answering any of those questions.”
He reminded reporters on Friday of his allegedly excellent result on the test, describing it as an “advanced, a very advanced test of mental acuity.”
“I think a president should have to do that,” he said. “And as you probably heard, I aced it. I got a perfect score. I got the highest score, I got the perfect score. And the only reason I tell you that is it’s one subject, unlike Biden and others, that you can take off your plate.”
His supposedly brilliant test results come with a touch of irony as, less than 12 months ago in the lead-up to the 2024 election, Trump was questioning the age and health of former US president Joe Biden. Biden ultimately withdrew from the US presidential race.
Trump said of Biden: “He sleeps all the time — during the day, during the night, on the beach,” he said about Biden, adding: “I’m not a sleeper.”
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