CNN host Jake Tapper isn’t shopping for the official White Home clarification for President Donald Trump sporting bandages on the again of his hand, arguing on “The Lead” that there’s extra to the president’s well being image than has been revealed.
Tapper mentioned the matter with CNN chief political analyst David Axelrod and ex-Trump aide Alyssa Farah Griffin after White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt advised reporters Thursday that Trump wears the bandages on account of “continuously shaking fingers.”
“The White Home gave the identical clarification for bruising again in July,” Tapper said Thursday. “Clearly, he’s 79 years outdated. And there’s something happening together with his well being that they’re not telling us, as a result of in any other case, why did he have that MRI?”
Trump visited the Walter Reed Medical Heart in Bethesda, Maryland, in October for his second “yearly” check-up in six months, later boasting to reporters that the results were “outstanding” — earlier than claiming that he truly has “no thought what they analyzed.”
Axelrod famous that this lack of transparency from the administration is “a typical theme.”
“A variety of extraordinary issues have occurred when the president of america has an MRI and might’t bear in mind or identify what a part of the physique the MRI was about,” he advised Tapper. “There are questions, there are points right here.”
“And the query is whether or not the American individuals should know,” he continued. “They had been raised relative to [former President Joe] Biden, [and] they need to be raised now, as a result of clearly one thing’s happening.”
Tapper reminded his visitors that Trump is an open germaphobe who has publicly admitted that he doesn’t like shaking hands and requested them how a lot confidence they’ve within the official hand-shaking clarification about his bandages.
“I feel that there’s going to should be a greater reply,” Griffin advised Tapper. “What occurs with this, we’ve seen it earlier than, is the rumors and the hypothesis should tackle a lifetime of their very own if there’s not some form of a transparent medical reply.”
The conservative “View” co-host continued, “However I feel we’ve seen sufficient from the primary Trump time period and so far as we’re in now, that we’re not going to get an entire lot extra data than what we’ve gotten thus far.”
The White Home beforehand stated Trump’s bruises are the results of a “benign and common condition,” confirming in July that he was recognized with power venous insufficiency, which purportedly additionally defined the visible swelling of his lower legs.
Tapper and Axelrod each talked about that the American individuals have by no means seen “bruising like this” on the fingers of another U.S. president, so there’s a warranted cause to pursue a convincing reply.
“How concerning the fact?” Axelrod requested. “How about details? That might be good.”
