White House explanation for Trump’s bruised hands isn’t holding up

When reporters noticed a bruise on President Donald Trump's right hand back in February, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt attributed to the discoloration to all the hand-shaking he does.

Trump, Leavitt told reporters, "meets more Americans and shakes their hands on a daily basis than any other president in history.”

More recently, the subject came up again when a reporter asked Leavitt about a bandage Trump was wearing on that hand — to which she responded, "We've…. given you an explanation for that in the past. The president is literally constantly shaking hands. The Oval Office is like Grand Central Terminal."

But MS NOW's Steve Benen believes that Leavitt's explanation isn't holding up.

New York Magazine's Margaret Hartmann, on Monday, December 29, reported that Trump also had bruising on his left hand.

According to Hartmann, "(Trump) also had some purple discoloration on the back of his left hand…. The left-hand bruising, as well as the right-hand makeup, was still visible on Sunday when Trump met with Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky at Mar-a-Lago."

Benen, in a December 30 column, argues, "I can imagine a scenario in which White House officials simply said, 'Look, Trump is the oldest elected president in American history. He'll soon turn 80. Like it or not, sometimes octogenarians' hands don't look great.' But they're not saying this, at least not yet. Instead, the official line from Team Trump is that handshaking led to bruising — despite the fact that the issue is now affecting his left hand, and the president is not ambidextrous."

The MS NOW columnist and "Rachel Maddow Show" producer continues, "Complicating matters further is the broader context. This is the same president who's struggled with questions about a recent MRI — Trump has said he has 'no idea' which part of his body was scanned — which came around the same time that he appeared to fall asleep at a couple of White House events…. It's entirely possible there’s nothing to this story, but given Trump's unfortunate record, he hasn't exactly earned the benefit of the doubt on questions of medical transparency."

Steve Benen's full MS NOW column is available at this link.