To their bitter disappointment, the White House physician today told skeptical reporters that President Trump’s overall health “is excellent” and that he did “exceedingly well” on his cognitive screening.
Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson joined White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders Tuesday afternoon to provide a complete readout on Trump’s physical health after conducting a thorough examination of him last week at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Jackson said he’s confident that Trump has a “very strong and a very probable possibility of making it completely through his presidency with no serious medical issues.”
But he noted that the president, who is 71 years old, stands 6-foot-3 and weighs 239 pounds, could use a bit more dieting and exercise.
“I think a reasonable goal over the next year or so is to lose 10 or 15 pounds,” Jackson said. “We talked about diet and exercise a lot. He’s more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part, but we’re going to do both.”
In answer to a reporter’s question about the president’s “mental fitness,” Jackson stated that the president performed “exceedingly well” on his cognitive screening, achieving a perfect score. The doctor said he had “absolutely no concerns” about the 71-year-old president’s cognitive abilities, and that he performed the screening at Trump’s request — not because he thought it was necessary. He speculated that Trump requested the cognitive exam in an attempt to counter the media’s narrative of the past few weeks that he is mentally unfit for office.
Although reporters seemed skeptical, he said he found “no reason whatsoever” to think the president had any issues with his thought processes.
The doctor said he didn’t ask, but guessed that Trump “sleeps four to five hours a night…. He’s just one of those people, I think, that does not require a lot of sleep.”
Jackson, who has served three presidents, described Trump as “very sharp” and “very articulate when he speaks to me.”
Asked by a reporter how the president can eat McDonald’s and drink Diet Cokes and still be healthy, he answered, “It’s called genetics. I don’t know. Some people have just great genes. I told the president that if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years he might live to be 200.”
https://youtu.be/tOlwdJCTopM
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