President Donald Trump pushed back on critics who have questioned the state of his health, telling The Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday that he denies falling asleep in meetings and takes a higher dose of aspirin than recommended by his doctors.
“They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don’t want thick blood pouring through my heart,” Trump told the Journal, attributing often-visible bruises on his hands — and the makeup he uses to try to cover them — to the medication. “I take the larger one, but I’ve done it for years, and what it does do is it causes bruising.”
Trump’s physician, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, told the Journal in a statement that the president takes 325 milligrams of aspirin a day for “cardiac prevention.”
Aspirin acts as an anticoagulant, meant to help prevent blood clots from forming. Blood clots that travel to the heart can lead to heart attacks. The medication can also increase a person’s risk of bleeding because it prevents clots from forming in wounds.
The 79-year-old president, who in January 2025 became the oldest man ever sworn in to the nation’s top office, has spent more time than he would like in the last year defending his vigor and vitality. In addition to the bruising, he has appeared to fall asleep during meetings. The White House also revealed in October that he had undergone advanced imaging of his torso, setting off speculation about the reason for the diagnostic measures.
“In retrospect, it’s too bad I took it because it gave them a little ammunition,” Trump told the Journal in describing the CT scan performed on him. In October, he had said the imaging was an MRI. “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.”
"President Trump agreed to meet with the staff and soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Hospital in October. In order to make the most of the President’s time at the hospital, we recommended he undergo another routine physical evaluation to ensure continued optimal health," Barbabella said in statement to NBC News. "As part of that examination, we asked the President if he would undergo advanced imaging — either an MRI or CT Scan — to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues. The President agreed, and our team of consultants performed a CT Scan. As we revealed in the post-examination report, the advanced imaging was perfectly normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities.”
“President Trump’s medical evaluations and laboratory results continue to show excellent metabolic health, and have revealed his cardiovascular health puts him 14 years younger than his age," Barbabella said. "Overall, the President remains in exceptional health and perfectly suited to execute his duties as Commander in Chief."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt defended messaging around the procedures, saying “the President’s physicians and the White House have always maintained the President received advanced imaging."
"Additional details on the imaging have been disclosed by the President himself because he continues to be the most transparent and open president in history," Leavitt added, while former president Joe Biden.
Barbabella also told the Journal that Trump has a condition called “superficial chronic venous insufficiency,” which caused swelling in his lower legs earlier this year.
Trump said in the interview that he wore compression socks to help with the problem but discarded them because “I didn’t like them.”
The president and his aides may be particularly sensitive to issues surrounding his age and health because Biden, was undermined by obvious signs of decline during their 2024 presidential election battle. Ultimately, Biden dropped out of the race — but remained in the presidency — following a disastrous debate performance against Trump.
Now, Trump finds it necessary to combat the narrative that age is taking a toll on his presidency, and that appears to be annoying to him.
“Let’s talk about health again for the 25th time,” Trump said in the Journal interview. “My health is perfect.”
At the same time, Trump said that he has asked his aides to limit his schedule — a move that Biden undertook as he tried to save his candidacy in 2024 — so that he can focus more on the most important meetings. The Journal reported that Trump starts his day in the Oval Office around 10 a.m. and typically works until 7 p.m. or 8 p.m.
Famously enamored of golf, Trump told the newspaper that he doesn’t exercise outside the workouts he gets on the links.
“I just don’t like it. It’s boring,” Trump said. “To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that’s not for me.”
Despite a series of episodes where he has appeared to fall asleep — dating back as far as his 2024 trial in New York — Trump suggested that he was merely resting his eyes at times, including a recent Cabinet meeting where he was captured on video.
“I’ll just close. It’s very relaxing to me,” he said. “Sometimes they’ll take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they’ll catch me with the blink.”
