Trump’s vein diagnosis gives rare glimpse into health issues

The White House’s announcement that President Trump has a common chronic vein condition marked a rare glimpse into the health of the oldest person to be elected U.S. president, whose campaign and administration have long projected him as the picture of strength and vitality. 

Trump, 79, has chronic venous insufficiency, according to the White House physician. The condition occurs when a person's leg veins struggle to pump blood back to the heart, causing blood to pool.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt made the disclosure at the top of a routine press briefing late last week, after images had been circulating online of Trump with swollen legs at the FIFA Club World Cup and a bruised hand covered in makeup. 

"I know that many in the media have been speculating about bruising on the president's hand and also swelling in the president's legs. So, in the effort of transparency, the president wanted me to share a note from his physician with all of you today,” Leavitt said, before outlining Trump’s condition. 

She said the bruising on his hands is “consistent with minor-soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin, which is taken as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention regimen.” 

The White House later released a more detailed memo from the White House physician. 

Critics have accused Trump of trying to hide the true details of his health behind bluster, so the announcement of a specific diagnosis came with some surprise — and a certain amount of skepticism. 

Barbara Perry, a presidential historian and professor at the University of Virginia, called it “a rather sudden turnaround from the Trump White House.”  

Perry commended the administration on its transparency but noted the public needs to believe what it’s being told. 

“Do we have complete information now? We don't know that. We only know what they have told us, and we have to presume that it is accurate,” Perry said.  

It’s not unusual for an administration to be reticent about sharing a president’s personal health information, and there’s no legal requirement for an administration to be transparent about it.  

Perry noted there’s a tension between what a president wants to disclose and what the American people have a vested interest in knowing. There’s no incentive for anyone in the administration — let alone the White House physicians — to be truthful and transparent about the person who could fire them. 

Perry said she would put Trump toward the same end of the transparency spectrum as former President Biden, who dropped out of the race last summer after a debate performance where he appeared unfocused, confused and unable to respond to many of Trump’s attacks.  

Biden’s White House denied reports of any mental decline. But by the end of his term, the public had lost confidence in his ability to lead. 

Trump during the campaign often boasted of his physical health and stamina as he sought to draw a contrast with Biden. While in office, he has continued to accuse Biden and his aides of covering up the alleged mental decline, and Trump's GOP allies in Congress have launched an investigation into what those White House aides knew. 

Yet Trump has hardly been forthcoming himself.  

When he was infected with COVID-19 in fall 2020, the administration did not release many details about his condition or treatment. His physician Sean Conley repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the illness. It wasn’t until months later — after the publication of a book from former chief of staff Mark Meadows and investigation by The New York Times — that the public learned just how seriously ill the president was.  

The Times reported Trump's blood oxygen was so low before he was admitted to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center that officials believed he would need to be put on a ventilator. He recovered after being granted special access to an unapproved drug to fight the virus.

Trump during the campaign pledged to release his medical records but then did not share even basic health data. Like much of Trump’s medical history, the information that has been released has been largely hyperbolic.

In 2015, Trump released a letter from his then-physician Harold Bornstein that said he would be the healthiest president in history. Two years later, Bornstein admitted Trump dictated the letter himself.  

During his first term in 2018, Trump’s former White House doctor Ronny Jackson, now an ally in Congress, said the president had “incredibly good genes” and joked that he might live to 200 years old if he had a healthier diet.

Current White House physician Sean Barbabella wrote in a memo after Trump’s annual physical in April that the president lives an active lifestyle that includes “frequent victories in golf events.”

Barbabella pronounced Trump “fully fit” to execute the duties of the presidency. 

Trump will be 82 at the end of his term, which would make him the oldest person to hold the office, beating Biden's mark by just a few months. 

Even after he was grazed by a would-be assassin’s bullet in July 2024, the Trump campaign provided very little information about his recovery or any lingering health effects. 

Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as former President Obama’s physician from 2009-13 and ran the White House Medical Unit for former President George W. Bush, said he thinks the current administration realized Trump’s physical condition couldn’t be hidden. 

“It's at least a breath of fresh air” to see transparency about “conditions the rest of us could see already,” Kuhlman said. “Presidents don't like to talk about their health unless they are forced to. When you have bruises on your hands and swollen ankles ... you don't get brownie points for this.”  

Kuhlman, who wrote a 2024 book about his experiences as a White House doctor, said he was heartened to see a memo from Trump’s White House physician that was “competent and factual.”  

“I'm not sure it's a turning point in transparency, but it is promising to at least see a doctor write something factual, and have a competent workup,” Kuhlman said. 

“This is the first [memo] that's been written by a doctor instead of by Trump himself.”