Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson said Friday that President Donald Trump’s trip to Walter Reed Medical Center was for his chronic venous insufficiency and to get certain vaccinations.
Jackson, the former physician to the president under Trump who has made grandiose claims about the 79-year-old’s health, told Newsmax about what the White House called a “routine yearly check-up,” despite being his second trip to the military hospital since April.
“This was a follow-up visit from his annual physical,” Jackson emphasized. “They were doing some follow-up on his venous issue. He had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, so there is a vascular study that was done. They were just looking to follow up—that was recommended.“
The White House announced in July that Trump had been diagnosed with CVI, a condition common in seniors in which blood pools in the legs due to poor circulation. That has been reflected in Trump’s frequently spotted swollen ankles.
The president has also repeatedly been photographed with bruising on his right hand, which the White House has said is not cause for concern. “This 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 regime,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt previously told the Daily Beast.
“He got all of his travel vaccines updated,” Jackson added of the president’s Friday check-up, later noting that Trump was also at the hospital to speak to some troops.
Later, Jackson insisted that Trump “couldn’t be healthier” and his “endurance is incredible.”
It was Jackson who, in 2018, suggested that if Trump had maintained a better diet, he could have lived to be 200 years old.
The White House has often issued statements to reporters attributed to Jackson rather than Sean Barbabella, the current physician to the president. While Jackson says he is in the know regarding the president’s health, he last held the position of physician to the president in 2018.
When reached for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to a memo from Barbabella, which included the claim that Trump’s “cardiac age” was “approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age.”
President Donald J. Trump Completes Comprehensive Follow-Up Evaluation at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center pic.twitter.com/OuB4whYm6K
— Rapid Response 47 (@RapidResponse47) October 11, 2025
Trump also got a COVID-19 booster, according to the memo.
In 2022, the Navy demoted Jackson from rear admiral to captain after a Pentagon inspector’s general report about his alleged inappropriate behavior in the White House. Afterward, Jackson was still calling himself a retired admiral, according to The Washington Post.
The post Trump ‘Doctor’ Reveals How Cankles Explain Walter Reed Trip appeared first on The Daily Beast.
