Medical expert unveils what the public isn’t being told about Trump’s health

U.S. President Donald Trump at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 10, 2026. REUTERS/Kylie Cooper

Sen. Mitch McConnell's (R-Kentucky) hospitalization is fueling a major debate on voters' right to information about the health of political leaders. Gov. Andy Beshear is arguing that voters deserve answers about the former Senate majority leader's health. And President Donald Trump's health is also generating a lot of discussion, some of it coming from Dr. Jonathan Reiner — who was the late Vice President Dick Cheney's cardiologist and is now a professor of medicine and surgery at George Washington University in Washington, DC.

In an op-ed for the New York Times, Reiner argues that U.S. voters deserve much greater transparency about Trump's health — as it's a matter of national security.

"For weeks after his hospitalization this summer," Reiner explains in his op-ed, "Sen. Mitch McConnell shared almost no details about why he was absent from office. In June, President Trump celebrated his 80th birthday, and at the end of this term, he will be the oldest person ever to serve as this nation's leader.… Despite reassurances from the White House to the contrary, at times over the past year, the president has not looked well. I am not Mr. Trump's doctor, and have only reviewed his records that have been made public. But Mr. Trump is probably the most photographed president in American history, and a variety of physical ailments are easy to see."

The former Dick Cheney cardiologist continues, "He's had large bruises on both hands, swelling in his legs and episodes when it appears that he is struggling to stay awake. He's also had advanced imaging performed for unclear reasons. The public is again left to wonder whether the nation's leader is OK."

Reiner recalls that during George W. Bush's presidency, Cheney's "heart problems were never a national secret" — applauding the late vice president's "candor about his health." The medical expert, however, notes that "there is no formal requirement for" a U.S. president to "certify his fitness for duty" — which the medical expert believes is a "mistake."

"Members of the military, Secret Service agents, commercial pilots, school bus drivers and air traffic controllers all must periodically demonstrate that they are well enough to perform their work," Reiner observes. "The current practice of reporting the results of a yearly medical examination for the president began in the Nixon administration, but it's only a custom, not a formal obligation. And, as history has shown, it can be unreliable. ... Some people would argue that these personal medical details are more than the public deserves to know: After all, Buckingham Palace has not revealed many details about King Charles’s cancer or his treatment. But the United States does not have a king."

Reiner continues, "In a representative democracy, the people must have confidence in the health of their leader, and in the leader's capacity to guide the nation. We have been kept in the dark too long."

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