Doc: Trump dictated his own medical
DONALD Trump’s former doctor has claimed that the US president dictated an infamous letter describing his own “extraordinary” health and stamina.
Dr Harold Bornstein admitted he did not write the December 2015 letter attributed to him, which hailed the then-presidential candidate’s physical condition.
The letter said: “If elected, Mr Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
Bornstein’s statement also claimed that Trump’s blood pressure was “astonishingly excellent”, while his cardiovascular health was also “excellent”.
In an interview with CNN, Trump’s former personal physician revealed: “He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter. I just made it up as I went along.”
In September 2016, Bornstein had offered a more sedate assessment of the president’s health, claiming that he had been “rushed for time” when he wrote the original letter but insisted that the words were his own.
However he told CNN on Tuesday: “That’s black humour that letter. It’s like the movie Fargo. It takes the truth and moves it in a different direction.”
He added that Trump “dictated the letter, and I would tell him what he couldn’t put in there” as he and his wife drove across Central Park in New York.
In another interview, Bornstein described the “chaos” as men swooped on his office to take Trump’s medical records.
He told NBC News that BY RECORD REPORTER Keith Schiller, the president’s bodyguard and former director of Oval Office operations, showed up at his office in February last year with two other men.
Bornstein said it felt like a “raid” and the incident left him feeling “frightened and sad”.
The White House said the former bodyguard did nothing out of the ordinary and Trump’s press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders disputed the doctor’s account.
She said: “As is standard operating procedure, the White House medical unit took possession of the president’s medical records.”
As for Bornstein’s claim that it had the feel of a raid, she said: “No, that is not my understanding.”
The medic told NBC that Schiller and another “large man” were in his office for about 30 minutes and “created a lot of chaos”.
He said the two men were joined by Alan Garten, the chief legal officer for the Trump Organisation.
It came two days after Bornstein told the New York Times that Trump took Propecia, a drug often prescribed to stimulate hair growth in men.
He told NBC that Trump’s personal secretary called him after the story ran and said: “So you wanted to be the White House doctor? Forget it, you’re out.”
The doctor said he was not given a form authorising him to release Trump’s records and claimed Schiller and Garten took the originals and copies of the president’s charts and lab reports.