WHITE HOUSE DOCTOR SAYS ANNUAL PHYSICAL ‘WENT EXCEPTIONALLY WELL’

>> WASHINGTON: US President Trump is in “excellent health” and his first medical checkup since taking office “went exceptionally well”, a White House doctor said.

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

Dr Ronny Jackson gave the exam to Mr Trump right before the president departed for a holiday weekend at his Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida. Mr 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,” Mr Jackson said in a statement.

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

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

Mr 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. Mr 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 New York businessman weighed 236lb (107kg).

Critics began openly questioning Mr 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 Mr Trump acquaintances questioned the state of the president’s mental health.

White House spokesman Hogan Gidley told reporters on Monday that Mr Trump is “sharp as a tack”.