Trump Demanded ‘IQ’ Brain Scan After Assassination Attempt
The president demanded doctors scan his brain even though it wasn’t necessary
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
President Donald Trump demanded doctors scan his brain in the aftermath of his assassination attempt after believing it functioned similarly to an IQ test.
Moments after being rushed to hospital following the failed attempt on his life last year, the president demanded a CT scan from doctors, the Washington Post reports. When the doctor asked why, Trump merely responded that he felt he needed one.
After brow-beating the medical team into performing a scan, Trump demanded to see the “film” from the procedure. When the doctor told him that wasn’t done anymore and offered him a written report instead, Trump doubled-down.
“I want the film,” he repeated, and dismissed the doctor. As she left to obtain a copy of the scan, an aide asked the president why he was so desperate for the image.
“It’s like an IQ test,” Trump responded. “They tell you that your brain is good, so I just want to have that.”
Trump claimed aides thought he'd been shot "four or five times" in the immediate aftermath of the assassination attempt last year.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
The anecdote comes from the upcoming book 2024: How Trump Retook the White House and the Democrats Lost America, an excerpt of which was published in the Post on Tuesday. The book, written by journalists Josh Dawsey, Tyler Pager and Isaac Arnsdorf examines in minute detail the build-up and aftermath of the failed assassination attempt on July 13, 2024.
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Elsewhere in the excerpt, the authors claim Trump had a “great time” soaking up the sympathy and well-wishes from friends and foes alike as he recovered in hospital.
“Trump kept talking about the shooting. He couldn’t believe it. He seemed to want to relive it over and over,” the excerpt reads. “Trump loved it. He was having a great time.”
During an interview with the book’s authors, Trump claimed he was “bleeding like a b---h” when he arrived in hospital, and claimed there was so much blood “they thought I had four or five bullets in me.”
Trump told doctors to perform a CT Scan and present him with a copy, even though he didn't need one.
Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images
Trump’s top aides, including future White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, future director of communications Steven Cheung and future deputy chief of staff Dan Scavino, eventually realized the president was ok “because he started making jokes” in his hospital bed, the book claims.
The failed shooting by 20-year-old Thomas Crooks also marked a turning point in the president’s campaign, and the moment a number of former adversaries changed their tune about MAGA.
“Jeff Bezos said Trump’s instincts showed who he was, and he wanted them to have a friendship,” the book reports. Mark Zuckerberg also said that seeing Trump pump his fist in the air after the shooting was “one of the most badass things” he’d ever seen.
Former adversaries such as Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk changed their tune about the president following the assassination attempt.
Pool/Getty Images
The day of the shooting was also the first time future “First Buddy” Elon Musk, who later bankrolled the rest of Trump’s campaign, publicly endorsed the president. “I fully endorse President Trump and hope for his rapid recovery,” he tweeted at the time.
Trump also had a phone call with then-president Joe Biden, who wished him a speedy recovery. Despite reports the call was awkward due to the ongoing fallout from the tense debate they’d had just two weeks earlier, Trump described the conversation as “very nice, actually.”
Upon leaving the hospital, Trump spoke to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who at that point was still running a third-party candidacy against the president. Trump invited the future health secretary to meet with him in Milwaukee the following week, where they soon became allies.
Arnsdorf, Dawsey and Pager’s book will be released on July 8.
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