CNN medical analyst Dr. Jonathan Reiner on Wednesday called on the White House to be more forthcoming amid growing questions about President Donald Trump’s health.
“We have been kept in the dark too long,” Reiner, who was a longtime cardiologist for the late former Vice President Dick Cheney, wrote in a New York Times guest opinion piece.
“Despite reassurances from the White House to the contrary, at times over the past year, the president has not looked well,” he wrote.
Reiner noted that he hadn’t examined Trump himself, but that “a variety of physical ailments are easy to see” in recent photos of the president, including bruises on his hands, swollen ankles ― a.k.a. “cankles” ― and his tendency to seemingly doze off in public.
“He’s also had advanced imaging performed for unclear reasons,” Reiner wrote. “The public is again left to wonder whether the nation’s leader is OK.”
Reiner then listed seven questions the White House should answer, ranging from why the 80-year-old president had to see 22 doctors and specialists during his most recent examination to why he was so frequently given cognitive tests.
In addition, Reiner noted a few places where the official record didn’t seem to make sense. The White House has said Trump’s cankles were caused by chronic venous insufficiency, a condition where leaky valves cause blood to pool in the legs. But Reiner said that diagnosis came just months after the president had been seen by his doctor, who made no mention of the condition.
“If that’s true, his swelling would be by definition acute, not chronic. Acute leg swelling is a potentially much more consequential finding that can be caused by issues such as heart and kidney disease,” he wrote. “What’s the reason for this discrepancy?”
Reiner also asked about the president taking an extremely high dose of aspirin, his “struggle to stay awake” and his medications.
Reiner also spoke about the president’s health ― and the questions surrounding it ― on CNN later in the day: