22 doctors and mysterious bruises… Is Trump really in good health?
Former Vice President Dick Cheney’s former cardiologist is raising questions and calling for greater transparency regarding President Donald Trump’s health after the appearance of physical signs and repeated medical examinations, while the White House and Trump’s personal physician maintain that he is in excellent health and fully capable of carrying out his duties.
Jonathan Reiner, the former cardiologist to former U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, has raised new questions about President Donald Trump’s health, urging the White House to provide more detailed information about the repeated medical examinations the president has undergone and about physical signs that have appeared in recent months.
Trump’s health has become an issue that goes beyond a medical debate and has developed into a broader discussion about presidential transparency, particularly as the president approaches his 80th birthday and calls increase for accurate and independent information about his ability to continue performing his duties.
In an opinion article published by The New York Times, Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, said Trump “did not look well” and that Americans deserved to know why. At the same time, he stressed that he does not treat the president and has never personally examined him, and that his observations are based on what has appeared publicly and on medical information released by the White House.
The cardiologist raised seven main questions concerning extensive bruising on Trump’s hands, swelling in his legs, and his appearances at public events in which he appeared to be drowsy, in addition to a series of medical examinations that, in Reiner’s view, require a more detailed explanation.
Reiner said the issue is not about proving that Trump has a particular disease, but about whether Americans have a right to know whether the 79-year-old president, who is approaching his 80th year, is genuinely healthy enough to perform one of the most demanding jobs in the world.
One of Reiner’s main questions concerns Trump’s repeated cardiac imaging. The president underwent advanced medical examinations during visits to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, and his most recent medical report showed that he had undergone a CT scan of the coronary arteries.
Reiner believes that repeating this type of examination within a relatively short period warrants an explanation, particularly because the medical report did not provide detailed information about what prompted doctors to repeat the test.
In October 2025, Trump made an unannounced visit to Walter Reed, which at the time raised questions about the nature of the examinations he underwent. Since then, the president’s repeated medical visits have attracted increasing attention. His May 2026 visit was his third scheduled medical appointment at Walter Reed in approximately 13 months.
Reiner also questions why 22 medical specialists participated in the latest examination, an unusually large number for a medical assessment of a president who is officially described as being in “excellent health.”
Democratic Representative Jamie Raskin called in June for the White House physician to provide the names and specialties of the specialists, as well as the examination results, arguing that the large number of doctors raised questions about why such an extensive medical team was necessary.
The U.S. administration, for its part, said the examination was comprehensive and multidisciplinary and that its results confirmed that Trump was in good health and capable of performing his presidential duties.
In a memorandum issued in May, White House physician Sean Barbabella said Trump “remains in excellent health” and demonstrated strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and physical functions. The report also stated that Trump scored 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA), a test used to detect possible signs of cognitive impairment.
Reiner, however, questions why the test has been repeated, given that Trump has undergone it several times in recent years and has received perfect or near-perfect scores each time.
He emphasizes that the MoCA is a cognitive screening tool, not a general measure of intelligence and not conclusive evidence that all forms of cognitive decline are absent.
Among the physical signs highlighted by Reiner are the visible bruises on the president’s hands.
The Trump administration attributed the bruising to aspirin use and frequent handshaking, while Reiner believes this explanation does not adequately account for the continued appearance of the bruises on Trump’s hands.
The controversy is further complicated by the aspirin dosage Trump has previously said he takes. Reiner had previously discussed the president’s use of a 325-milligram daily dose, which is higher than the low dose widely used for cardiovascular prevention.
Reiner stresses that aspirin affects platelet function and does not literally “thin the blood.”
As for the swelling in Trump’s legs, it has been the subject of discussion since July 2025, when the White House announced that Trump had chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition among older adults that causes blood to pool in the veins of the legs and leads to swelling. The administration said at the time that there were no indications of blood clots, arterial disease or heart failure.
In the latest medical report, doctors said the swelling had improved. Reiner nevertheless pointed to what he considered an inconsistency in the presentation of the information, questioning when the condition first appeared and why it was described as improved compared with the previous year when the earlier examination had not clearly documented the same swelling.
Reiner is also paying particular attention to Trump’s appearances at public events in which he closes his eyes or appears to be falling asleep.
In subsequent comments, he said this was not an isolated incident but rather a phenomenon he had observed repeatedly over the past several months, arguing that recurrent daytime sleepiness warrants medical evaluation and a public explanation.
However, these scenes do not in themselves prove that the president was asleep or that he suffers from any particular illness, nor do they permit a medical diagnosis from a distance. Reiner himself acknowledges that he is not diagnosing the president, but rather seeking answers about phenomena that he says have become visible to the public.
His questions also concern other findings mentioned in the medical report, including the use of an artificial-intelligence-assisted analysis to estimate Trump’s “cardiac age” at approximately 66, around 14 years younger than his actual age.
Reiner believes that such a figure should not be treated as an independent medical diagnosis in the absence of detailed conventional data that would allow doctors to assess cardiovascular health properly.
The latest medical report has already drawn criticism from other physicians because of the lack of certain details concerning the cardiac examinations. According to The Wall Street Journal, it did not include detailed data such as the heart’s ejection fraction, the degree of calcium buildup, or certain indicators used to assess coronary artery disease.
These questions come as the White House continues to insist that Trump is in excellent health.
The report also showed that Trump weighed 238 pounds, approximately 108 kilograms, an increase of 14 pounds compared with his April 2025 examination. It recommended increased physical activity and improvements to his diet.
The controversy, however, is not limited to the medical findings; it also concerns the level of transparency. Doctors and observers have noted that the official report provided an extremely positive summary without releasing all the details that would allow independent physicians to assess the full picture. Axios reported that the report did not put an end to questions about the bruising, leg swelling and alertness, nor did it adequately explain why cardiac imaging had been repeated or whether doctors had investigated the possibility of daytime sleepiness.
Reiner also draws on his previous experience with Cheney in calling for greater transparency. He served as Cheney’s personal cardiologist for many years. Cheney had an extensive history of heart disease and underwent a series of medical procedures before receiving a heart transplant in 2012.
Reiner says Cheney’s experience demonstrated that publicly addressing the health of a person holding high office is not impossible, even when the medical condition is extremely complex. In his view, the importance of the president’s health extends beyond personal privacy because the physical and mental ability to perform the duties of the presidency is a matter of concern to millions of Americans.
The White House responded to Reiner’s criticism with a personal attack, accusing him of offering “armchair diagnoses” and of having political motives. The administration also defended the presidential physician and the medical report, stressing that Trump had undergone an extensive evaluation and that the results were reassuring.
Reiner responded that he had not diagnosed Trump but had simply raised questions. This point summarizes the heart of the controversy: the information made public so far does not establish that the president has an undisclosed serious illness, nor does it provide a medical basis for claiming that he is unable to perform his duties. However, the official report has also failed to answer all the questions raised by the frequency of the medical examinations and the physical signs that have appeared in public.
At the core of Reiner’s message is the argument that the issue is not to declare that Trump is ill, but that the public should not be forced to speculate about the health of the president of the United States when there have been repeated medical examinations, a team of 22 specialists, visible physical signs and questions that have yet to receive detailed answers.
