White House doctor: President Trump 'is in excellent health' and physical 'went exceptionally well'

David Jackson | USA TODAY

WASHINGTON — President Trump is in "excellent health" and his first medical checkup since taking office "went exceptionally well," a White House doctor said Friday.

The president's annual physical at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center is a routine practice, but Trump's exam has taken on heightened scrutiny amid questions about his mental fitness.

Dr. Ronny Jackson gave the exam to Trump right before the president departed for a holiday weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Jackson, the president's physician for three consecutive administrations, is scheduled to speak with reporters on Tuesday after compiling lab results over the holiday weekend – an unusual step in this White House ritual.

"I look forward to briefing some of the details on Tuesday," Jackson said in a statement.

The White House announced it would offer reporters the chance to speak with Jackson in the middle of a debate over the president's mental fitness.

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Trump's physical health has been questioned and is often the subject of mystery.

Trump appears to be overweight. The 71-year-old president is known to eat his fair share of junk food, and has famously eschewed exercise beyond golf. Trump has said he takes a statin drug designed to lower cholesterol levels. After a physical during the 2016 campaign, a statement from his doctor said the 6-foot-3 New York businessman weighed 236 pounds.

Critics began openly questioning Trump's psyche last week following a tweet in which he said he has a bigger nuclear button than North Korea leader Kim Jong Un, and the publication of Fire and Fury, a book about the White House, in which anonymous Trump acquaintances questioned the president's mental stability.

Psychiatric exams are not part of presidential physicals, but Trump aides have insisted that Trump doesn't need one. White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters Monday that Trump is "sharp as a tack."

Trump himself mocked the concerns about his mental health, proclaiming himself a "very stable genius" who won the presidency on his first try.

He also expressed confidence before the physical.

"It better go well," Trump told reporters Thursday. "Otherwise, the stock market will not be happy."

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