Karoline Leavitt desperately tried to shift attention away from President Donald Trump’s swollen “cankles” and bruised hands after reporters pressed her for a health update.
“Look, you see the president every day,” the White House press secretary told reporters Tuesday. “He’s moving, he’s working, he’s continuing, there have been no adjustments made to his lifestyle.”
Her comments followed CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe asking for a more specific update after Leavitt had proven similarly evasive on the journalist’s query about whether a White House physician could be made available to answer questions about the president’s health.
“I don’t want to make that commitment on behalf of the physician,” the press secretary responded. “It’s certainly something we can look into and explore out of the effort of transparency, because unlike the previous White House, there is nothing to hide.”
“You guys see this president working around the clock, literally 24/7, all of the time,” she added. “I would be happy to look into that request.”
At 79 years old, Trump’s physical health has been a subject of some speculation in recent weeks after the president was seen at a sporting event with swollen ankles, or “cankles,” and witnessed during a White House press event with what appeared to be bruising on his hand.
White House medical staff have since confirmed Trump has been diagnosed with “chronic venous insufficiency,” a common condition in people over the age of 70, in which the veins of a person’s body have trouble returning blood to the heart.
Earlier in April, the president’s physician released results of his annual physical, declaring him to be “in excellent cognitive and physical health.”
Trump’s claims about his well-being have often met with skepticism in the past, given his insistence on being in peak physical condition despite widespread speculation over self-evident risk factors like heart disease, high cholesterol, obesity, and a family history of dementia.
At his 2023 booking in Georgia on charges of election interference, Trump claimed to weigh 215 pounds, which at 6-foot-3 would put him roughly on par with Muhammad Ali in the all-time heavyweight boxing champion’s absolute prime. His annual White House physical three years prior had him at 244 pounds, technically pushing the president into the “clinically obese” category on the BMI scale.
