Disgraced doctor says Trump is “the healthiest president the nation has ever seen”

The health of 79-year-old Trump has been the subject of much comment for some time, following several appearances in which he presented swollen ankles and bruising on his left hand.

Faced with mounting questions and persistent symptoms, the White House chose to release a statement from Ronny Jackson, a former doctor without a medical license since 2021.

Jackson, whose past is marked by controversy, including a demotion in the Navy following multiple accusations of misconduct, was chosen by the White House, rather than the current presidential physician, to assert that Trump was the healthiest president in the country’s history.

Jackson, a close Trump ally and former personal physician at the White House during his first term, has since given up his medical license to devote himself entirely to politics as a Republican member of the House of Representatives for Texas.

Trump’s former doctor is best known for his many extravagant comments about Trump’s health, having repeatedly described him as in “excellent health” and “fit for duty”.

He’s also gone further with outlandish statements, claiming in the past that “if he had a healthier diet, he might live to be 200 years old” and more recently that he was “the healthiest president the nation has ever seen”.

He added, in response to the many doubts about the president’s health, that he was “mentally and physically sharper than ever before”.

It was this same doctor, Ronny Jackson, who had assured that Donald Trump was fine after the assassination attempt in July 2024 in Butler, Pennsylvania. At the time, he declared that Trump was recovering as expected, despite the bullet wound.

Jackson has a nebulous past linked to his role as White House physician under Bush, Obama and Trump, as well as his time in the Navy. In 2018, when Trump nominated him for Secretary of Veterans Affairs, serious accusations resurfaced: alcohol abuse on duty, reckless prescriptions of nicknamed drugs, repeated tantrums, inappropriate comments and a toxic work climate.

He withdrew his candidacy.

An investigation by the Pentagon Inspector General, published in March 2021, confirms that these behaviors date mainly from 2012 to 2018. In July 2022, the Navy demoted him from Rear Admiral to Captain, sealing the end of his active military career and the start of his political career in the Republican Party.