President Donald Trump declared in a social media post Friday that he was in “perfect” health, a day after The Wall Street Journal published an interview with him in which he pushed back on scrutiny about his age and fitness.
Trump, 79, is the oldest person to have been elected president. During the interview with the Journal, he dismissed public concerns about his age and health and expressed irritation that the topic keeps coming up. The article mentioned Trump’s bruised hands — which he said is a result of taking a higher dose of aspirin — his hearing and his limited sleep, though he said he still has plenty of energy that he attributed to his “good genetics.”
In the lengthy article, Trump denied that he falls asleep during White House events, adding he has trouble sleeping some nights and usually functions on limited hours of sleep.
“Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink,” Trump said about images that show his eyes closed.
The president has appeared to nod off during several events, including at a Cabinet meeting last month in which he appeared to battle to stay awake. In November, Trump seemed to struggle to keep his eyes open in the Oval Office during an event announcing price cuts for weight loss drugs.
Questions have also been raised about the bruises seen on Trump’s hands in recent months. Last week, images showed discoloration or mild bruising on the back of the president’s left hand, along with the more noticeable bruise on his right hand that has been there for months.
Trump said in the interview that he takes a higher dose of aspirin than his doctors have recommended, which causes the brusing.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart. I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?” Trump said, according to the Journal.
Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, Trump’s doctor, told MS NOW that Trump takes 325 milligrams of aspirin daily. That’s the daily maximum recommendation, according to the Mayo Clinic. Aspirin can cause several adverse side effects including bruising, stomach bleeding, stomach ulcers and abdominal pain, the Mayo Clinic said.
Trump also has swelling in his lower legs. He told the Journal that he had tried compression socks to treat the swelling but “didn’t like them.” The White House said in July that the inflammation was due to chronic venous insufficiency, a condition commonly found in older adults.
In recent months, the president has faced a flurry questions after he told reporters he underwent an MRI at at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, though he said he had “no idea” which part of his body was scanned. But Trump said in the interview that the imaging he underwent was a CT scan, not an MRI.
“It wasn’t an MRI. It was less than that. It was a scan,” Trump said. He added that he regrets getting the scan because he believes it fueled speculation about his health. “In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” he said.
A CT scan is a quicker and more widely used method for producing detailed images of the body, while an MRI takes longer but provides clearer images of soft tissues.
Barbabella said in a statement to MS NOW that Trump had received a CT scan after it was recommended that he undergo advanced imaging to rule out any cardiovascular issues.
“As we revealed in the post-examination report, the advanced imaging was perfectly normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities,” Barbabella said.
Beyond the president’s physical health, the article mentions Trump’s habit of going from topic to topic in speeches and statements, sometimes making factual errors. Often recently Trump has veered off topic, and at times rambled, while speaking in public, including during an event in Pennsylvania aimed at highlighting affordability in the swing state and during his scattered speech in September in front of hundreds of U.S. military leaders at a base in Virginia.
But the president has insisted that he suffers no cognitive decline.
Trump’s former and current physician said they administered the Montreal Cognitive Assessment to Trump, in 2018 and 2025, respectively, and that he had scored “30 out of 30” on the assessments.
In his post Friday, Trump said, “The White House Doctors have just reported that I am in “PERFECT HEALTH,” and that I “ACED,” (Meaning, was correct on 100% of the questions asked!), for the third straight time, my Cognitive Examination…”
Ebony Davis is a breaking news reporter for MS NOW.