President Donald Trump’s attempts to cover up the ever-present bruising on his hand have continued into the new year, with the president sporting visible foundation caked on the back of his right hand at the Tuesday press briefing he crashed.
Joining Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt on Tuesday afternoon for a press conference designed to mark one year since his inauguration, Trump ran through a list of his accomplishments, reading from an actual physical booklet titled “Accomplishments” and rambling for over an hour before taking questions from reporters.
His makeup-covered hand was visible throughout the press conference, as it has been during countless public appearances since Trump’s second term began, documented extensively by the Daily Beast.
When contacted by the Daily Beast, the White House reiterated Leavitt’s previous statements about the bruising being the result of the sheer number of hands the president is required to shake on a daily basis.
“President Trump is a man of the people and he meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other President in history. His commitment is unwavering and he proves that every single day,” Leavitt said.
Bruising on the president’s hand, and the repeated attempts to cover it up, have raised alarm bells as other aspects of his health continue to appear to decline.
Another sign of ill health in the president include his diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency, a common circulatory condition that causes swelling in the legs.
Medical experts have also grown increasingly alarmed by the president’s repeated reference to “acing” cognitive tests typically offered to those at risk of developing dementia.
During an appearance on MS NOW, Dr. Vin Gupta said that the president bragging about acing three such tests was “not the flex he thinks it is,” adding, “You don’t do this every other day and use that as evidence that you’re cognitively there.”
“Those that tend to do Montreal [Cognitive Assessment Tool, or MOCA] tests with that level of frequency, usually we’re worried about the presence of early-stage dementia or cognitive impairment, so he might be ruling himself in to something that he doesn’t want to rule himself into.”
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal published on New Year’s Day, the president revealed that he has ignored advice from his doctors and general health recommendations, instead relying on his “good genetics.”
The 79-year-old also expressed regret about his decision to undergo advanced imaging, which caused a firestorm after the White House initially declined to provide an explanation as to why before eventually admitting it was due to his advanced age.
“In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” Trump told the Journal. “I would have been a lot better off if they didn’t, because the fact that I took it said, ‘Oh gee, is something wrong?’ Well, nothing’s wrong.”
Despite his repeated assertions that he is the picture of health, medical experts continue to worry about the president’s fitness for office. Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former cardiologist to Vice President Dick Cheney, wrote in a Monday social media post that the president’s bizarre message to Norwegian Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into his fitness for office.
This letter, and the fact that the president directed that it be distributed to other European countries, should trigger a bipartisan congressional inquiry into presidential fitness. https://t.co/HkHzsiTau4
— Jonathan Reiner (@JReinerMD) January 19, 2026
Professor Bruce Davison of Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine even went so far as to claim on a podcast that the president suffered a stroke months ago and has concealed that fact from the public.
“I think the stroke was six months ago or more, earlier in 2025,” he told biographer Sidney Blumenthal and Princeton historian Sean Wilentz on their podcast, The Court of History. “There are videos of him shuffling his feet, which is not what we’d seen previously when he was striding on the golf course.” White House Press Secretary Koriline Leavitt labeled the claims “absolute bulls–t.”
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