US President Donald Trump speaks to reporters during his trip from Palm Beach International Airport, Florida, USA to Washington DC on November 30, 2025.
Anna Rose Leyden | Reuters
The White House on Monday released new details about President Donald Trump’s October MRI scan, providing a more comprehensive explanation of the procedure following questions about why the 79-year-old president underwent an advanced imaging test at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.
Spokeswoman Caroline Levitt read out a summary at a daily news conference, saying the MRI scan was part of Trump’s “comprehensive executive health examination” and was ordered because men of his age “would benefit from a thorough evaluation of his cardiovascular and abdominal health.”
The White House explained that the imaging tests are routine and preventive and are intended to identify potential problems early and confirm overall function. Trump’s doctor, Dr. Sean Barbavera, said cardiovascular imaging showed no signs of narrowed arteries, impaired blood flow or abnormalities in the heart or major blood vessels.
He found that the heart chambers were normal in size and the blood vessel walls appeared smooth and healthy, with no signs of inflammation or clotting. Dr. Barbabella also reported that all major organs were healthy and well perfused, and no acute or chronic concerns were detected.
Barbabella said the president’s cardiovascular system is “extremely healthy.”
Despite Mr. Leavitt explaining the MRI in detail and later releasing a memo from Dr. Barbabella summarizing the MRI results, the White House withheld the images.
Until Monday, the White House had described Walter Reed’s visit in October only as a “follow-up evaluation” that included “advanced imaging tests” without explaining why the procedure was done.
The disclosure comes amid increased scrutiny of MRI over the weekend after Minnesota’s Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential candidate to run alongside Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, called on President Trump to release the results in response to a Thanksgiving Truth social post in which Trump attacked Walz and Democratic Rep. Ilhan Omar (D) from the state’s Somali community.
Walz later said in an interview on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that “in the history of the world, there’s probably been someone who was assigned an MRI, and he says he has no idea what it was for.”
