Donald Trump insisted he has “no idea” which part of his body was scanned while lashing out at two female reporters who pressed him about his MRI on Sunday.
Speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on Sunday, the 79-year-old president appeared defensive about the technique, known as magnetic resonance imaging.
“I have no idea,” Trump replied when quizzed at one point about what part of his body was scanned. “It was just an MRI—what part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it—I got a perfect mark.”
It all kicked off when the president was asked about Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz’s demand that he release the results of the MRI scan he underwent last month.
“Governor Walz, you mean the incompetent governor? So, if they want to release it, it’s OK with me to release it—it’s perfect,” Trump said.
NewsNation’s Libbey Dean, positioned beside the president, continued pressing, “What was the reason for it?”
Doctors have noted that MRIs aren’t typically part of a routine exam and are often prompted by symptoms.
“If you want to hear about it or if you want to release it,” Trump began, before looking at Dean and jeering, “Do you want to have it released? NewsNation? Failing, failing NewsNation.”
Dean countered, “No, sir, we’re not failing,” as Trump pressed on, declaring, “NewsNation is doing lousy, by the way.”
Another female reporter then asked the 79-year-old president which part of his body the MRI had scanned.
“I have no idea,” Trump replied. “It was just an MRI—what part of the body? It wasn’t the brain because I took a cognitive test and I aced it—I got a perfect mark.”
Pointing his finger at the reporter, he added, “Which you would be incapable of doing.” He then pointed at Dean, saying, “You too,” and ended the press huddle. The cognitive test he cited screens for signs of dementia.
Trump visited the Walter Reed Military Medical Center last month for what his team described as a routine “annual” physical exam, despite it being his second this year.
The White House had released only a physician’s note that described him as being in “excellent overall health,” until Trump himself let slip to journalists that he’d undergone an MRI scan.
Trump’s team has not provided details on why Trump, who has faced mounting questions about his mental acuity, had the MRI or what area of his body it examined.
Trump previously told reporters he had “no idea” what part of his body had been analyzed, a claim that Dr. Vin Gupta, a medical analyst for NBC News and former Chief Medical Officer at Amazon, dismissed as nonsense.
“You know when you get an MRI what part of your body is going into the very narrow part of that MRI scanner because you hear it. You have to be in there for, you know, anywhere from 15 to 45 minutes,” Gupta told the MeidasTouch Podcast.
The elderly president has frequently insulted female reporters in recent weeks, calling a reporter “stupid” on Thanksgiving, telling ABC White House Correspondent Mary Bruce to “learn how to be a reporter,” and snapping at Bloomberg reporter Catherine Lucy with the now-infamous “quiet, piggy.”
The post Trump, 79, Can’t Figure Out Where He Had His MRI appeared first on The Daily Beast.
