Donald Trump is dodging his pledge—following the July assassination attempt where he was wounded in his right ear—that he would “very gladly” release his medical records, according to The New York Times.
If he wins re-election next month, Trump, 78, would eventually surpass President Joe Biden, who turns 82 next month, as the oldest Oval Office holder in history.
Biden and Trump’s election opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, have also declined to release comprehensive medical records.
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The Republican nominee bragged to CBS News in August that he earned a “perfect score” on a medical exam and “aced” cognitive tests after the July attempt on his life at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
“I got everything right,” he enthused. “One of the doctors said, ‘I’ve never seen that before, where you get everything right.’ No, I have no problem. I’d go a step further, I think anybody that runs for president, whether they’re 75 or 65 or 45, I think should take a cognitive test.”
While Trump has said he’s cognitively fine, a Republican official close to his campaign told Vanity Fair in August that the former president had “been watching that seven-second clip of how close he was to getting shot right in the head—over and over and over again” and that he “may actually legit have PTSD.”
When the NYT asked for Trump’s purportedly sterling records, his campaign would only provide a July letter written by Congressman Dr. Ronny Jackson (R-TX), his former physician, that said the wound in his ear was healing. It contains no further medical details or information about cognitive tests.
The Times noted that Dr. David Rottinghaus, a physician in the emergency room at Butler Memorial Hospital, where Trump was treated after the shooting, noted—without addressing the former president’s case specifically—“any time there is a high-velocity injury, particularly from a weapon and a gunshot there is potential for significant damage. You have to be very meticulous and very diligent in the evaluation of even something that may appear to be minor.”
Trauma surgeon Dr. Kenji Ibana, however, told the Times that, given Trump “is walking, talking campaigning and doing things normally” it can be inferred that he didn’t suffer from any major effects that could be caused by a gun wound to the ear like bleeding between the skull and brain or ear bone damage.
His campaign has not released details about the specifics of his injury, treatment, or whether any follow-up was required.
