The White House has lashed out after President Donald Trump’s days-long absence from public view fueled speculation about his condition.
Trump, who turns 80 this month, had not appeared publicly for seven days following last week’s Cabinet meeting before resurfacing in the Oval Office on Wednesday afternoon to announce an executive order.
But the prolonged silence, which began a day after the president visited the hospital for his fourth medical evaluation in just over a year, has prompted renewed scrutiny of his health.
Searches for “Trump stroke” and “Trump missing” have surged on Google, according to the Daily Mail, reminiscent of the health rumors that swirled amid the president’s four-day absence from view last September, when Google searches for “Is Trump dead?” and “Trump dead” skyrocketed, along with “Trump health.”
Meanwhile, Trump foe Gavin Newsom stoked the rumor mill on Wednesday, writing on X, “WHY HASN’T THE CAMERA-LOVING PRESIDENT BEEN IN FRONT OF A CAMERA FOR DAYS ??? ESPECIALLY RIGHT AFTER HIS “PERFECT” PHYSICAL.”
Independent journalist Aaron Rupar noted Wednesday morning that “it has now been one week since he has appeared publicly for anything besides a pre-taped interview.”
The mounting speculation appears to have forced the White House to address the president’s vanishing act.
“President Trump just participated in a 45-minute wide-ranging interview yesterday, and he will be holding open press events tomorrow and Friday,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle told the Daily Mail on Wednesday, before the president’s afternoon Oval Office announcement. “Anyone using the President’s schedule to push left-wing conspiracies is a grade-A moron.”
When reached for comment on the president’s absence and health, Ingle provided the Daily Beast a slightly revised version of the statement sent to the Mail.
“President Trump just held a 40-minute press conference in the Oval today, participated in a 45-minute wide-ranging interview yesterday, and he will be holding open press events tomorrow and Friday. Anyone using the President’s schedule to push left-wing conspiracies is a grade-A moron.”
But concerns about Trump’s health have become widespread even among medical experts, who have scrutinized the president’s chronic bruises, swollen ankles, and rashes, as well as his frequent mental slip-ups and public sleeping fits.
While Trump claimed that his checkup last week went “PERFECTLY,” the medical report that the White House subsequently released was missing crucial details and drew sharp criticism from doctors.
Doctors interviewed by The Wall Street Journal said the report was “almost too good to be true” for someone Trump’s age.
“This seems to be a filtered narrative,” vascular surgeon Dr. William Shutze told the paper.
The president’s personal physician wrote in the memo that various diagnostic tests revealed that Trump was in “excellent health,” but it failed to provide the results of those tests, several doctors said.
The memorandum also listed three medications, including aspirin, without specifying the dosage.
