'Disconcerting': Ex-White House cardiologist deeply skeptical of 'weird' Trump MRI reveal
A former Bush administration cardiologist questioned the Trump administration over its report Monday that the president is in "excellent health."
Dr. Jonathan Reiner, the late former Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist for nearly 30 years, pushed back on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt's claims that President Donald Trump's MRI was apparently "preventative" during an interview with CNN.
"Well, there really is no preventative cardiac MRI," Reiner said. "This is not a standard test for, you know, an 80-year-old man to undergo advanced imaging. Of course, the whole note has kind of a weird, defensive, you know, evasive tone to it. First of all, this is not part of the president's comprehensive physical examination."
Following two physical exams, the White House revealed during the summer that the president was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency.
"He had that in April, and then he underwent some more testing in July," Reiner said. "If you look at his first administration, the president, like most presidents, only underwent one comprehensive physical exam every year. So this comes completely off-cycle. Second, it's filled with euphemisms. Again, Dr. Barbara Bell, the president's physician, states that he underwent advanced imaging. Well, what specific advanced imaging did the president have? Was it an MRI, as the president said? Was it a CT [scan]? Did he have both? Why not just spell it out?"
Reiner explained how the administration could have his doctor or health official describe what happened.
"It's as if a patient came in for a chest x-ray, and then I only told people that the patient underwent simple radiologic imaging. Just, you know, just spell it out," he added. "This is, again, not part of a comprehensive screening, particularly, you know, abdominal imaging. Why would someone undergo a preventive, quote, preventative MRI imaging or CT imaging of the abdomen? This obviously was performed in response to some clinical concern, which is fine."
The MRI could have been out of a health concern — and the American people deserve to know that, Reiner explained.
"Things happen to people as, you know, as we all get older. And the president is almost 80. So instead of this kind of evasive, almost laughable kind of note. Just spell out what happened. I hope the imaging is normal and great. That would be excellent news. But this kind of piece-by-piece, drip-by-drip release of information is disconcerting," Reiner said.