Donald Trump, 79, had his discolored, swollen right hand on full display at the White House Easter Egg Roll on Monday, following a days-long absence that has raised questions about his health.
The annual event on the White House South Lawn was the president’s first public appearance since social media users circulated unfounded claims that he had been hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, over the weekend.
Trump, the oldest president to be inaugurated, had been largely absent from public view since his rambling address on the war he started with Iran on Wednesday.
But during Monday’s festivities, Trump—and his purplish hand—were difficult to miss. He could be seen wandering across the lawn, speaking to small children about former President Joe Biden’s use of an autopen while clutching renderings of an arch he hopes to build in his honor.
“[Biden] was incapable of signing his name, so they’d follow him around with this big machine,” Trump told a group of children he was seated next to. “You know what it was called? An autopen.”
It’s unclear why Trump opted to have the dark marks on his hand on full display during Monday’s event, when he typically covers them with makeup that rarely matches his skin tone.
Trump was also spotted at his Trump National Golf Club in Sterling, Virginia, on Easter Sunday, sporting two Band-Aids wrapped around his right thumb and right index finger. The back of his right hand also appeared slightly discolored.
Officials have attributed the discoloration to Trump’s daily use of aspirin, a blood thinner, and treatment for chronic venous insufficiency, a condition in which leg veins struggle to push blood back up to the heart.
“President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history,” White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast on Monday. “The president is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history. President Trump’s commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day.”
Trump’s communications team also lashed out at swirling rumors about the president’s health over the weekend.
“Deranged liberals cook up insane conspiracy theories when @POTUS goes 12 hours without speaking to press,” the White House’s rapid response account wrote on X. “(They said nothing when Biden routinely went 12 days without speaking to press) Fear not! President Trump literally never stops working.”
The president, however, appears to never stop posting, either. He made nine posts on Saturday, covering everything from his criticism of the “failing” New York Times to the “great” jobs report and high approval ratings of his administration—from surveys conducted by the MAGA-filled Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC).
On Sunday, he kicked off Easter with a profanity-laced Truth Social post in which he threatened Iran and praised Allah.
Throughout his second term, the Daily Beast has extensively reported on Trump’s declining health, as the president is seen frequently napping during Cabinet meetings, having mental slip-ups, slurring his words, and suffering from swollen ankles.
