A prominent physician has raised concerns about the lack of transparency surrounding the laundry list of health issues that Donald Trump suffers from.
Jonathan Reiner, professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University, who was also former Vice President Dick Cheney’s cardiologist, wrote in The New York Times that the American public “deserves answers” about the flailing health of the 80-year-old president.
Reiner notes that Trump, who is on course to be the oldest sitting president in U.S. history, and the White House are not being open about how ill the president is, while noting ailments that the Daily Beast has routinely been reporting on since February 2025.
“Despite reassurances from the White House to the contrary, at times over the past year, the president has not looked well,” Reiner writes.
“I am not Mr. Trump’s doctor, and have only reviewed his records that have been made public. But Mr. Trump is probably the most photographed president in American history, and a variety of physical ailments are easy to see,” he added.
“He’s had large bruises on both hands, swelling in his legs and episodes when it appears that he is struggling to stay awake. He’s also had advanced imaging performed for unclear reasons. The public is again left to wonder whether the nation’s leader is OK.”
Reiner also poses a list of seven questions that he wants answered to provide the country with clarity about the president’s flailing health.
The first question Reiner asks was about why the president was evaluated by 22 consultants during this last medical check–up—his third in 13 months. “Why were so many physicians summoned, and what were their specialties?”
Secondly, Reiner seeks a new explanation as to why Trump frequently appears in public with large dark bruises on both his hands, which he often tries to hide with blotches of makeup.
The White House long has tried to explain that the bruising is because Trump regularly shakes people’s hands, combined with his daily aspirin intake, which is four times higher than what is usually recommended.
“Trauma from handshaking has never seemed plausible, and it doesn’t explain why the president’s left hand is often similarly discolored. Also, why would the president take a dose of aspirin four times as high as the dose typically recommended by doctors?”
Reiner’s third question focuses on Trump’s swollen canckles. In July, the White House confirmed Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which causes the swelling in his lower legs. However, there was no swelling reported in Trump’s previous physical examination, even though the condition usually develops over a long period of time.
“If that’s true, his swelling would be by definition acute, not chronic,” Reiner wrote in The Times.
“Acute leg swelling is a potentially much more consequential finding that can be caused by issues such as heart and kidney disease. What’s the reason for this discrepancy?”
Reiner’s fourth question is about the president’s habit of falling asleep in public. He wonders if this is just because the 80-year-old is a “renowned night owl,” or a medical issue that could cause serious complications if left untreated. “Has the president’s medical team identified the source of this issue? And how are they addressing it?”
Next, Reiner asks about Trump’s undergoing advanced imaging of his heart and abdomen at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last October, which, as explained by Trump’s physician Sean Barbabella, was necessary to “identify issues early” to ensure the president “maintains long-term vitality and function.”
“He said the tests did not reveal any abnormalities. Was there a specific symptom or clinical event that prompted this testing?” Reiner asked in his fifth question.
For his sixth question, Reiner wanted to know why the president’s previously documented use of the hair-loss prevention drug finasteride was not included in Trump’s latest medical examination, or why the White House suggested that it was not “deemed clinically relevant” to include.
“It does not matter, in any material way, if the president is or isn’t taking a hair-loss drug,” Reiner wrote. “The more important question is, what medications prescribed for Mr. Trump, if any, has the White House decided to withhold from the public?”
For his seventh and final question, Reiner wondered why Trump has undergone the Montreal Cognitive Assessment—which screens for early signs of dementia, and not an IQ test as the president claims—on numerous occasions while in office.
“And have there been more sophisticated neurocognitive assessments performed?” he added.
In response to Reiner’s questioning, White House spokesperson Davis Ingle told the Daily Beast: “If it quacks like a duck, it may actually just be a Democrat hack doctor.
“President Trump is the sharpest, most accessible, and energetic president in American history and any so-called medical professionals engaging in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes are clearly breaking the Hippocratic Oath they’ve sworn to.”
Elsewhere during his opinion piece, Reiner noted how this administration is dealing with Trump’s health is different from when Cheney was in the White House during the Bush years.
“Dick Cheney’s heart problems were never a national secret,” he wrote. “During his time in the White House, he needed stents, a defibrillator and medical treatment for an arrhythmia and a blood clot in his leg. After the defibrillator was implanted in his chest in 2001, he would frequently show visitors to his West Wing office a sample device provided to him by the manufacturer.”
Cheney died in November 2025 at the age of 84 following complications related to pneumonia and vascular disease.
Reiner also pointedly noted how Kentucky Senator Mitch McConnell “shared almost no details about why he was absent from office” for weeks after the 84-year-old was hospitalized.
“Some people would argue that these personal medical details are more than the public deserves to know: After all, Buckingham Palace has not revealed many details about King Charles’s cancer or his treatment,” Reiner adds.
“But the United States does not have a king. In a representative democracy, the people must have confidence in the health of their leader, and in the leader’s capacity to guide the nation. We have been kept in the dark too long.”
