WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump underwent a medical exam on Tuesday, putting his health under renewed public scrutiny as he sought to allay concerns about his age and fitness.
The 79-year-old president visited Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for what the White House is calling an annual preventive medical and dental checkup. The medical exam, the fourth to be made public since Trump returned to office for a second term, comes as the president seeks to project strength ahead of midterm elections that will test his influence with voters.
For decades, the government has released selected results from presidential medical exams, giving the public a glimpse into the commander-in-chief’s health. But the results must be reviewed through the White House and approved by the president, raising questions about what the public can and cannot see.
Trump, a Republican, will turn 80 next month, making him the oldest person to be elected president of the United States. His predecessor, Democratic President Joe Biden, was 82 years old when he left office and withdrew from the 2024 presidential race amid widespread concerns that he was too old for the job.
A Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos poll conducted in April found fewer than half of American adults believe Mr. Trump has the mental acuity and physical health to be effective as president.
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“I think concerns about the physical health of presidents are probably at an all-time high, and I think the aging of their bodies is the biggest concern,” said Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as White House physician for more than a decade under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton.
For a president of Trump’s age, Kuhlman said a medical check-up would be expected to include basic tests such as height, weight and blood pressure, as well as advanced heart tests, common cancer screenings and cognitive evaluations.
The White House has not disclosed the details of the visit, but has expressed confidence in what it will present.
“President Trump is the sharpest and most approachable president in American history, tirelessly working to solve problems and deliver on his promises, and remains in excellent health,” White House Press Secretary Davis Ingle said in a statement.
There is no law requiring the president to disclose medical records.
In the weeks leading up to his visit, Trump said he felt as good as he did 50 years ago, even as he joked about his love of fast food and minimal exercise habits. But he is also sensitive to perceptions about his age, saying he takes great care when descending the stairs from Air Force One to avoid headlines for tripping.
There is no law requiring presidents to release their health records, and the degree of transparency varies by administration. President Trump’s past reports have been criticized for being scant in detail and providing statistics that some medical experts viewed with skepticism.
In public appearances, President Trump is often seen wearing makeup to hide bruises on his hands, which the White House attributes to shaking hands and regularly using aspirin. Although he denies sleeping, he sometimes appeared drowsy during meetings and sometimes closed his eyes for long periods of time.
Mr. Trump frequently boasts about “passing” cognitive tests, while frequently mocking Mr. Biden, who has questioned his mental acuity. Mr. Biden and his aides have aggressively pushed back against questions raised about his suitability for the presidency.
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President Trump’s previous medical exams included the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is used to test for dementia and cognitive impairment. Trump’s doctors reported that he scored 30 out of 30 on medical exams in 2018 and 2025.
But critics point to Trump’s meandering and sometimes combative speeches as evidence of cognitive decline.
Last month, more than 30 neurologists, psychiatrists and other medical experts said in a statement that Trump was mentally unfit for service and warned of an “increasingly dangerous decline” in his behavior based on what they called “objectively observable signs of serious medical concern.”
“So-called medical professionals who engage in armchair diagnosis and false speculation for political purposes are clearly violating the Hippocratic oath they took,” Ingle said.
Sarah Rosenthal, a bioethicist at the University of Kentucky who studies presidential health, said presidents, like any patient, can choose what to make public about their health. Questions about transparency have become more acute as the United States elects older presidents like Trump and Biden, she said.
“Unless the president is in perfect health, I think we can expect little disclosure about the president’s true health status,” Rosenthal said, suggesting that an independent medical institution investigate and report on the health status of the president and his successors.
“Nothing should be hidden”
The first medical report of Trump’s second term was released in April of last year. In July, he was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency. This is a common condition among older people, where blood builds up in the veins. Photos showed the president’s feet, ankles and calves swollen, which the White House described as a symptom of chronic venous insufficiency, which causes “mild swelling” in the lower extremities.
Following his last publicly announced routine follow-up test in October, Trump’s doctor issued a one-page summary saying the president was in “excellent health” without disclosing many specific results.
S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who has studied the health of past presidents, said Trump’s frequency of medical checkups is not unusual for someone his age. Olshansky said this is part of a strategy to catch problems while they are still treatable.
Olshansky said the public deserves to see more than just the White House medical brief, which “may be subject to editorial discretion.” Complete, unredacted medical records should be made public and “nothing should be hidden,” he said.
The White House did not say whether Trump’s visit would include any procedures that may require anesthesia. President Trump’s last colonoscopy was in 2024, and he recommended a follow-up three years later.
If Trump is anesthetized, Vice President J.D. Vance is expected to temporarily assume the presidency under the 25th Amendment. The last time that happened was in 2021, when Vice President Kamala Harris briefly took office while Biden underwent a colonoscopy. President George W. Bush twice transferred power to Vice President Dick Cheney.
— Colin Binkley
