WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump defended his energy and health in an interview with The Wall Street Journal, revealing that he underwent a CT scan, not an MRI, during an exam in October about which he and the White House were slow to provide details.
Trump, in the interview published Thursday, said he regretted undergoing advanced imaging of his heart and abdomen during an October visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center because it raised public questions about his health. His doctor said in a memo the White House released in December that he had undergone “advanced imaging” as a preventive exam for a man his age.
Trump initially described it as an MRI, but said he did not know what part of his body it had scanned. A CT scan is a faster form of diagnostic imaging than an MRI, but it offers less detail about differences in tissues.
The president’s doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said in a statement released Thursday by the White House that Trump underwent the exam in October because he planned to be at Walter Reed to meet people who work there. Trump had already undergone an annual physical in April.
“President Trump agreed to meet with the staff and soldiers of Walter Reed Medical Hospital in October. To make the most of the President’s time at the hospital, we recommend that he undergo another routine physical evaluation to ensure continued optimal health,” Barbabella said.
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Barbabella said he asked the president to undergo a CT scan or MRI “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular problems” and the results were “perfectly normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities.”
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said in a statement Thursday that the president’s doctors and the White House “have always maintained that the president received advanced imaging,” but said that “the president himself has disclosed additional details about the images” because “he has nothing to hide.”
“In retrospect, it’s a shame he took it because it gave them a little bit of ammunition,” Trump said in the interview with The Wall Street Journal. “I would have been a lot better off if they hadn’t done it, because the fact that I took it was like, ‘Oh wow, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing happens.”
The 79-year-old became the oldest person to be sworn in when he was sworn in as president last year and has been sensitive to questions about his health, particularly as he has repeatedly questioned his predecessor Joe Biden’s fitness for office.
Biden, who turned 82 in the final year of his presidency, was dogged by scrutiny of his age and mental acuity at the end of his term and during his abandoned attempt to seek re-election.
But questions have also revolved around Trump’s health this year, as he has been seen with a bruise on the back of his right hand that has been conspicuous despite being smeared with makeup on top, along with noticeable swelling on his ankles.
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This summer, the White House said the president had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition common among older adults. The condition occurs when the veins in the legs cannot adequately transport blood back to the heart and it pools in the lower legs.
In the interview, Trump said he briefly tried wearing compression stockings to treat swelling but stopped because he didn’t like them.
The bruise on Trump’s hand, according to Leavitt, is due to “frequent handshakes and the use of aspirin,” which Trump takes regularly to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke.
He said he takes more aspirin than his doctors recommend, but has resisted taking less because he’s been taking it for 25 years and said he’s “a little superstitious.” Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day, according to Barbabella.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning the blood and I don’t want thick blood running through my heart,” Trump said. “I want nice, fine blood to flow through my heart. Does that make sense?”
Trump, in the interview, denied falling asleep during White House meetings when cameras caught him with his eyes closed, insisting instead that he was resting his eyes or blinking.
“I’m going to close. It’s very relaxing for me,” he said. “Sometimes they take a photo of me blinking, blinking, and they catch me blinking.”
He said he has never slept much at night, a habit he also described during his first term, and said he starts his day early in the White House residence before moving to the Oval Office around 10 a.m. and working until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
The president dismissed questions about his hearing, saying he only had trouble hearing “when there are a lot of people talking” and said he has a lot of energy, which he attributed to his genes.
“Genetics are very important,” he said. “And I have very good genetics.”