The White House confirmed that President Donald Trump will have a normal medical exam on Friday when he goes to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
According to White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, Trump will visit the hospital in Bethesda, Maryland, and meet with troops there.
“On Friday morning, President Trump will visit Walter Reed Medical Center for a planned meeting and remarks with the troops,” Leavitt said in a statement. “While there, President Trump will stop by for his routine yearly checkup. He will then return to the White House.”
Leavitt went on to say that Trump is also thinking of “going to the Middle East shortly thereafter.” The visit might happen when Hamas agrees to the first part of Trump’s peace offer, which would halt the fighting in Gaza and free the hostages.
This year, Trump will have his second medical checkup. In April, he got a similar checkup, and his doctor said he was “still in excellent health.”
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“President Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological, and general physical function,” Navy Capt. Sean P. Barbabella, the physician to the president, said at the time.
In July, doctors found that the president had chronic venous insufficiency, a vein ailment. Leavitt claimed at the time that Trump had seen “mild swelling” in his lower thighs and had been looked at by the White House medical staff.
Chronic venous insufficiency happens when the veins in the legs have trouble letting blood flow back to the heart.
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Leavitt said that the bruises on the president’s hand were caused by “frequent handshaking and taking aspirin.”
Another topic looming large this week is the government shutdown.
President Donald Trump has set a deadline for when his administration will begin implementing cuts to federal workers and programs if the ongoing government shutdown is not resolved.
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On Monday, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and most Senate Democrats rejected a continuing resolution aimed at reopening the government, extending the shutdown into another week.
Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, Trump said that if the shutdown continues for four to five more days, his administration could move forward with mass layoffs and reductions across multiple federal agencies.
“How many permanent jobs are you talking about eliminating?” a reporter asked Trump during an Oval Office meeting with Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney.
“I’ll be able to tell you that in four or five days. If this keeps going on, it’ll be substantial, and a lot of those jobs will never come back,” Trump responded. “You’re going to have a lot closer to a balanced budget.”
The reporter also questioned Trump about any programs he wished to cut during the shutdown.
“Oh, sure. We have a lot, I’m not going to tell you, but we’ll be announcing it pretty soon. But we have a lot of things that we’re going to eliminate and permanently eliminate,” Trump said.
“You know, one of the things that we have as some advantage, you could say, but because of the shutdown, which I think they made a big mistake, we’re able to take out billions and billions of dollars of waste, fraud and abuse, and they’ve handed it, you know, to us on a silver platter,” Trump added, per the Daily Caller.
Trump told reporters that he has received calls from several Democrats seeking meetings with him, some of whom claimed to be party leaders. Trump added that he was unfamiliar with a number of the individuals who reached out.
The ongoing government shutdown has centered on a dispute over healthcare funding, with Democrats pushing for expanded Medicaid reimbursements for states that provide coverage to undocumented immigrants, as well as additional subsidies under the Affordable Care Act.
Last week, Trump met with his Office of Management and Budget Director to discuss possible federal workforce reductions. Following the meeting, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told the Daily Caller that layoffs were “imminent,” though no staff cuts have been announced to date.
An op-ed published last weekend painted a bleak political outlook for Democrats heading into next year’s midterms.
The op-ed by conservative commentator and former Wall Street executive follows Democratic Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer’s move deny Republicans enough votes to keep the government open and funded at current levels.
Writing in The Hill, Peek blamed the shutdown squarely on Schumer, noting that it “highlights three weaknesses undermining the Democratic Party as we head toward next year’s midterm elections.”
For one, she notes, Democratic Party leadership continues to face pressure from its progressive wing, which has gained significant influence over the party’s agenda. Schumer is reportedly wary of a potential primary challenge from New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a dynamic that observers say may be shaping some of his recent political decisions.
