WASHINGTON (AP) — A lack of notice. Past failures to level with the American people. A tough week for the White House as public impeachment hearings got under way.
Add it all up, and President Donald Trump’s unscheduled weekend visit to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center raised suspicions about his health, despite White House officials’ insistence that the president was merely getting a head start on his annual physical.
For any president, a sudden trip to the hospital would raise questions. But such scrutiny was magnified with a president who has a history of exaggeration and playing loose with the facts, giving skeptics room to run with their own theories. “The one thing you can be absolutely sure of is this was not routine and he didn’t go up there for half his physical,” tweeted Joe Lockhart, a press secretary under President Bill Clinton, who was himself impeached for perjury and obstruction. “What does it mean? It means that we just won’t know what the medical issue was.” The president’s medical appointment wasn’t listed on his Saturday public schedule, and his last physical was just nine months ago. Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the 73-year-old president was “anticipating a very busy 2020” and wanted to take advantage of “a free weekend” in Washington to begin portions of his routine checkup. Grisham followed up Monday night tweeting a memorandum from the president’s physician, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, who described Saturday’s visit as a “routine, planned interim checkup as part of the regular, primary preventative care he received throughout the year.” Conley said that due to scheduling uncertainties, the trip was kept off the record. He said after a little more than an hour of examination, labs and discussion, the president visited with medical staff and the family of a soldier undergoing surgery. “Despite some of the speculation, the President has not had any chest pain, nor was he evaluated or treated for any urgent or acute issues,” Conley wrote. Trump’s 2018 and 2019 physicals were both announced ahead of time. Grisham said after the visit that the president had gotten “a quick exam and labs.” “The real Donald Trump is getting exposed for what he’s done, and that’s what’s driving him to the doctor,” Rahm Emanuel, a former Clinton aide and Chicago mayor, said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week.”. Jamieson said there is a set of expectations about how a president’s annual exam is handled, which includes the advance public notice that the Trump White House provided for his first two exams. She said the reasonable question is: “If this is routine, why was it not handled in a routine manner?” First, annual physicals typically aren’t performed in installments unless someone needs a special test not available at their doctor’s office — something that shouldn’t be an issue at a military hospital. Nor are they usually performed three months early; Trump’s last physical was last February. Nick Note: Or favorite asshole is one sick demented puppy. As i have often said he will resign because he is in ill health. You can see it i his speeches. I pray he does not have a heart attack while in office carried out feet first… WHY? I want him to die a decrypted disgraced broken old man,,,, Hopefully at 90 years old.