In early October, Donald Trump went to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his second physical of the year. Soon after, an official White House summary released to news organizations noted that the president had undergone “advanced imaging” as part of that visit.
This one detail, mentioned in passing, generated some reasonable follow-up questions: Did Trump get an MRI? If so, why?
A week after the medical exam, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt conceded that she didn’t know why this specific test was ordered. A week after that, the president himself acknowledged during a brief Q&A with reporters that he’d undergone magnetic resonance imaging, but he declined to say why his doctors had ordered the scan.
The issue continued to linger in the background for a while. On Nov. 4, Leavitt boasted about Trump’s “optimal physical health,” though she didn’t know the reason for his MRI. On Nov. 12, the press secretary again insisted that the president is in “exceptional physical health,” adding that the MRI results were reviewed by “radiologists and consultants,” but she offered no additional details.
Then on Friday night aboard Air Force One, en route to Mar-a-Lago, Trump provided a bit more of his medical insight.
After telling reporters that an MRI is a “very standard” part of his annual physical, he went on to say, “I had an MRI. The doctor said it was the best result he has ever seen as a doctor. … The result was outstanding.”








