Despite promises, Trump’s medical records remain secret

In mid-August, Donald Trump spoke briefly to CBS News, which asked the former president a good question. “Will you make your medical records publicly available?” correspondent Caitlin Huey-Burns asked the Republican.

“Oh, sure,” Trump replied. – Sure, I’d love to do it.

At this point, the GOP nominee began talking about his “perfect score” on the cognitive test – a topic he has long struggled to understand – and his belief that every candidate should pass it.

Nearly seven weeks later, The New York Times reported that the elusive medical records remained a mystery.

(J)less than a month before an election that could make 78-year-old Trump the oldest person to hold the office of president in history (82 years, 7 months and 6 days remaining in his term in January 2029), he refuses to reveal even the most basic information about his condition health. If he wins, Trump could enter the Oval Office with a number of potentially troubling issues, medical experts say: including cardiac risk factors, possible fallout from the July assassination attempt and cognitive decline that naturally comes with age.

Sure, if you put it that way, it sounds bad.

It’s true that there are still 32 days until the 2024 election, and it’s at least likely that the GOP nominee will keep his previous transparency promises. But I wouldn’t count on it: As regular readers know, Trump has long taken a rather untraditional approach to sharing medical information.

It started before he took office. In late 2015, during the race for the Republican presidential nomination, Team Trump released an unintentionally funny four-paragraph letter from the late Dr. Harold Bornstein in which he stated that Trump’s “physical strength and endurance are extraordinary” and that his test results laboratory tests were correct. “surprisingly excellent.” The doctor then added: “If Mr. Trump is elected, I can say unequivocally that he will be the healthiest person ever elected president.”

A few months later, we learned that Bornstein wrote the letter in five minutes while Trump’s limousine waited for the document.

In the following years, the level of information disclosed did not improve – even when the then president was hospitalized due to Covid-19 infection.

Last fall, Trump released the first updated report on his health in more than three years, but it was prepared in the form of a statement from one of his golf club clients and omitted basic information such as blood pressure and medications.

Most recently, the former president and his team also ignored calls for basic medical information after he was shot in the ear.

Against this backdrop, almost seven weeks ago, Trump said he would be “very willing” to release his medical records, which will likely become public around the time he releases his tax returns.

This post updates ours related prior coverage.