Medical expert pinpoints overlooked omission in Trump's lab results: 'A heart issue?'

President Donald Trump had his third hospital visit in 13 months on Tuesday – purportedly for a medical and dental checkup – but despite declaring himself to be in "perfect" health after the exam, prominent physician Vin Gupta flagged a telling omission in the president's lab results on Wednesday that raised questions about his condition.

“What we see with our own eyes is difficult to ignore: his day-to-day performance as president, and often he’s falling asleep at these major Oval Office events,” Gupta, who frequently appears on MS NOW as a medical analyst, said in a video published Wednesday by Zeteo. “He seems like he has a lot of daytime somnolence.”

With his 80th birthday approaching next month, Trump is the oldest living president in U.S. history, and as such, has faced growing scrutiny surrounding his physical and cognitive health. In recent months, onlookers have observed Trump with swollen ankles, bruising on his hands, a rash on his neck and appearing to doze off during meetings.

The White House has provided a number of explanations for the president’s various symptoms, but it was its explanation for the president’s swollen ankles that caught Gupta’s attention.

“He has pretty noted lower extremity swelling. The White House claims that it’s chronic venous insufficiency, which for our audience, maybe you have a loved one that has had that,” Gupta said. “Is that a sign of aging? Potentially.”

What raised concern for Gupta, he explained, was the White House’s claim that Trump’s condition was “chronic,” a condition that is persistent or recurring, and not acute, which is a condition that is severe and sudden.

“They said that it was ‘chronic.’ He had three appointments in the last year – it did not note that this was on his problem list,” Gupta said. “And so, is it acute? Did this just happen, and is there a reason for that? Is there a heart issue that could explain that?”

Zeteo’s John Harwood, who was interviewing Gupta, asked the physician if Trump’s ankle swelling was consistent with congestive heart failure, a chronic condition in which the heart muscle is too weak to pump blood efficiently.

“If this is acute – say, it happened over the last weeks to the last few months, which, based on the readouts from his physicians, one could claim that that’s exactly what’s happening – sure, that could indicate that,” Gupta said.