The White House is refusing to disclose details about the cognitive tests President Donald Trump has taken to check for early signs of dementia as concerns grow about the aging president’s health.
The ongoing secrecy comes after the 79-year-old fired off an early-morning social media tirade on Friday, insisting he was in “PERFECT HEALTH” and once again boasting that he had “aced” three cognitive exams during his presidency.
However, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt and her staff have declined to answer fresh questions about the tests or when they were taken.
This comes despite Leavitt saying in a press briefing last month, in response to questions from the Daily Beast, that she would provide this information “at a later date.”
The issue is pertinent because it goes to the heart of the commander-in-chief’s fitness for office—something that dogged Trump’s Democratic predecessor, Joe Biden, for most of his presidency.
Trump also made cognitive health a possible flashpoint for the 2028 election in his Truth Social post on Friday, declaring that: “I strongly believe that anyone running for President, or Vice President, should be mandatorily forced to take a strong, meaningful, and proven Cognitive Examination.”
“Our great Country cannot be run by ‘STUPID’ or INCOMPETENT PEOPLE!” he wrote.
Concerns about the president’s health have intensified in recent weeks, after he appeared to doze off at several public events, regularly confused names and dates, and veered into bizarre rants on everything from wind farms and White House decor to First Lady Melania Trump’s underwear.
Fresh questions also emerged on Monday after Trump gave an impromptu interview to The Wall Street Journal that undercut the explanations he and his aides had previously given about his mental and physical health.
For instance, the president confirmed that he had worn compression socks to treat the ankle swelling he’s had due to Chronic Venous Insufficiency (CVI), a condition where weakened valves in leg veins fail to efficiently return blood to the heart.
However, this contradicted the White House’s earlier assurances that the president had not changed his lifestyle or treatment as a result of the diagnosis.
He also walked back his previous admission that he had an MRI, despite saying several times on camera last year that he had one in October.
Now, according to the president and his White House physician Sean Barbabella, he had a CT scan.
The president also admitted in the interview that he applies makeup to cover the bruising on his hands.
This, he said, was because he takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day to thin his blood—four times the recommended low dosage amount of 81 milligrams—which causes his hands to bruise easily.
“I’m a little superstitious,” he explained as his reason for taking the high aspirin dose for 25 years.
“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?”
Leavitt has also cited Trump’s aspirin use as a reason for the president’s bruising, but her main explanation has been to blame his constant handshaking.
“The Oval Office is like Grand Central Terminal,” she replied when asked by the Daily Beast last month to explain why the president had suddenly been spotted wearing bandages. “He is meeting with more people than any of you even know about on a daily basis.”
The cognitive test Trump has taken is known as the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, a screening tool used to detect cognitive impairment or early signs of dementia. It involves tasks such as drawing a clock to show a specific time and identifying animals.
However, it is not clear whether all three tests were taken during his current presidency or if he was also tested during his first administration.
“The first question is like, ‘What is this?’ And they show a lion, a giraffe, a fish, and a hippopotamus. And they say, ‘Which is the giraffe?’” Trump told a rally in North Carolina last month.
“I don’t think Joe [Biden] would have gotten the first question right,” he added. “He would say hippo. ‘I want the hippo.’”
The confusion and inconsistencies surrounding Trump’s health prompted Democratic House leader Hakeem Jeffries to demand a Congressional investigation.
“I don’t believe that this is something that should wait until the American people give Democrats the majority in the aftermath of the November election later on this year,” he said.
“Congress, in its role as a separate and coequal branch of government, should make sure the Administration comes clean as it relates to the President’s ability to continue to do the job at the level the American people deserve.”
But the White House insists there is nothing to see.
“Pushing these fake and desperate narratives now about President Trump is why Americans’ trust in the media just fell to a new all-time low,” Leavitt said.
