Getty US President Donald Trump shakes hands with White House Physician Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson.
Rear Admiral Dr. Ronny Jackson, the physician to the president at the White House, provided an extensive briefing to the press on Tuesday after completing his first physical examination of President Donald Trump last Friday.
Jackson, an Iraq War veteran, has been a White House doctor since 2006 and was appointed as the physician to the president in 2013 by President Barack Obama. He was kept on by Trump when he took office last year. He told the press that Trump’s overall health is “excellent.”
You can watch the full press conference below:
You can read his report on the examination here.
While the results of the president’s physical are private, it has been tradition for the president to allow his doctor to provide some details of the examination results to the public. The exam was held January at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
“The purpose of this exam was to provide the public with an update of the President’s current health status and to ensure the President continues to enjoy all the benefits of good health,” Jackson said. “This examination focused on evidence-based health screening and disease prevention.”
Jackson said the 71-year-old president is 75 inches tall (6 foot 3) and weighs 239 pounds. His resting heart rate is 68, his blood pressure is 122 over 74. He said Trump is just within the “overweight range.”
Jackson told reporters that Trump, “”would benefit from a diet that is lower in fat and carbohydrates,” and said that he hopes to start a fitness plan. Jackson said that Trump currently does not exercise regularly.
“I told the President if he had a healthier diet over the last 20 years, he might live to be 200 years old,” Jackson told reporters. “He has incredible genes, I just assume. If I didn’t watch what I eat, I wouldn’t have the cardiac and overall health that he has. He’s very healthy despite he does those things.”
Jackson said, Trump “is more enthusiastic about the diet part than the exercise part but we’re going to do both. I will work together over the next year to incorporate a good plan.”
Many questions have been raised about Trump’s mental health, including concerns that he has early stage dementia or other mental instability.
He said Trump asked to go under a cognitive assessment and he has “no concerns about his cognitive ability.”
The White House, which previously said Trump would not undergo a psychological exam, has called the questions being raised about Trump’s mental fitness “disgraceful and laughable,” and Trump himself tweeted that he is a “very stable genius.”
