Karoline Leavitt dodges questions on Trump's recent MRI scan: 'I’ll check back for you'

WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump’s press secretary Karoline Leavitt is keeping her lips tight when it comes to his health.

The 28-year-old White House spokesperson faced a barrage of questions on Tuesday, November 5, after reporters learned that the 79-year-old president recently had an MRI. 

Karoline Leavitt says Trump remains in 'optimal physical health'

Standing at the White House podium, Leavitt dismissed concerns about Trump’s well-being and insisted he was in “optimal physical health.” The briefing came just a day before the Supreme Court was set to review Trump’s tariffs on Canada, Mexico, and China.

When CNN’s Kristen Holmes pressed her about the MRI, Leavitt stuck to her talking points. “As President Trump said, he would enquire with the physicians, I’ll check back on that,” she told Holmes. “But as the physical [examination into his health, published earlier this year] stated, Kristen, and as you all know, because you are all witness to it every single day, the president is in optimal physical health.”

Leavitt added, “This was a follow-up appointment, and we provided a detailed read-out of that physical. I'm happy to give it to you again, and I can enquire further.”

But Holmes wasn’t buying it. “With all due respect, an MRI is a very specific procedure,” she shot back. “It’s done on a part of the body, looking for something specific, so it’s not generally part of any kind of routine check-up. In addition, President Trump has said he wants to be transparent. He has told us to ask the doctors, which we have and have not heard back. Why don’t we have more information on this?”

Leavitt cut it short. “As I said, I’ll check back for you," she concluded.

Bruises, swollen ankles, and speculation

Trump’s health has been the talk of the town lately, thanks to some eyebrow-raising public appearances as well as a few conspicuous absences. The president has been spotted with bruises on his hands and swollen ankles.

Back in October, his doctor tried to calm the speculation with a glowing health report, noting that Trump’s “cardiac age is approximately 14 years younger than his actual age.” The former reality TV star reportedly underwent a “routine yearly checkup” at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

“President Donald J. Trump remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological and physical performance," his doctor, Navy Captain Sean Barbabella, insisted in a one-page memo.

Trump brags about his tests

Trump, of course, wasn’t shy about weighing in. “I got an MRI, it was perfect,” he bragged to reporters aboard Air Force One.

The president also revealed he’d taken some cognitive tests at Walter Reed. “Those are really hard, they're really aptitude tests, I guess, in a certain way. But they're cognitive tests,” Trump said.

He then mocked Reps Jasmine Crockett and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez as being “low IQ” and challenged them to take the same test.

“The first couple of questions are easy. A tiger, an elephant, a giraffe, you know,” he said. “When you get up to about five or six, and then when you get up to 10 and 20 and 25, they couldn't come close to answering any of those questions.”

Doctor raises eyebrows at Trump's 'routine' hospital visit

Not everyone’s buying the “routine checkup” story. Former White House physician Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served under Barack Obama, raised questions about the three-plus hours Trump spent at Walter Reed.

“It’s about an eight-minute helicopter ride from the South Lawn to Walter Reed. So we know that he at least had four hours available to undergo medical care,” Kuhlman told The Hill. “There’s a disconnect there.”

Kuhlman explained that while it wasn’t unusual to head to Walter Reed for scans, the length of Trump’s visit didn’t add up. “Most any procedure scope, I had the capabilities there at the White House. The only thing I couldn’t, that I’d have to [go to] Walter Reed for, is advanced imaging,” he said.

At 79, Trump holds the record as the oldest person ever elected president of the United States. Yet Barbabella maintains the commander-in-chief is in “excellent overall health.”

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