A prominent physician is calling for President Donald Trump’s doctor to hold a press conference to answer questions over what he says are “lingering concerns” about the president’s health.

Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a professor of medicine and surgery at The George Washington University, and a CNN medical analyst, says that Trump’s recent seven-day absence from public view only served to heighten concerns.

Last week, Trump — who is quickly approaching his 80th birthday — had his third annual checkup in 13 months, the fourth of his second term in office. He appeared in a televised Cabinet meeting last Wednesday, and then was not seen again until appearing in a podcast that was published Wednesday morning.

“I do physicals, because I just want, I think I have an obligation to do it, but I just came out with very, very good results, and I took a test, a cognitive test, and I got 100% on it. I got, as the expression goes, I aced it,” Trump said in the podcast.

“With lingering concerns following the president’s recent physical exam, and the president’s prolonged absence from the public eye, the White House should make available the president’s physician to answer questions from the press,” Dr. Reiner wrote.

Trump exacerbated those concerns when he appeared in the New York Post’s Pod Force One podcast with what appeared to be a swollen right eye and his recurring swollen hand.

The White House Physician to the President, Captain Sean Barbabella, released notes from the president’s checkup that left many questions, critics say, including why the White House waited three days to release the memo.

Speaking about the delayed results, Dr. Reiner told CNN, “the only reason not to release a rosy report right away is that maybe it’s not so rosy, or this is some information you don’t want the public to hear.”

“I’ve read this report multiple times, and every time I read it, it actually seems to be thinner and thinner,” Reiner noted. “And I’m actually not sure what testing the president underwent last week.”

Reiner added that there were very few tests disclosed in Dr. Barbabella’s memo, “and what was confusing, to, you know, many of the physicians who reviewed these reports, is that it appeared that the president had underwent repeat testing, and I’m not sure that’s true.”

“But the president was at Walter Reed for three hours, so what actually was conducted there?” he asked.

He also noted that Barbabella’s report indicated the list of medications the president is taking “was shortened or abbreviated for readability and relevance.”

“I’m not sure what readability means,” Reiner added, “but every medication the president is taking is relevant, and they only released two cholesterol medicines and aspirin.”

Image via Reuters 

President Donald Trump, who had not been seen in public for a week, appeared on a podcast with a new malady: an apparently swollen right eye — along with a recurring swollen hand.

“Trump’s right eye clearly showed puffiness and looked oddly misshapen compared to his left eye, while his right hand looked much bigger than his left,” The New Republic reported, noting the president “continues to dodge questions about his health.”

The interview with Pod Force One was taped on Tuesday, a week after Trump’s third medical checkup in 13 months, and the fourth of his second term. He told Miranda Devine, “I do physicals, because I just want, I think I have an obligation to do it, but I just came out with very, very good results, and I took a test, a cognitive test, and I got 100% on it. I got, as the expression goes, I aced it.”

He went on to say he has a “great memory.”

Trump, who’s quickly approaching his 80th birthday, is facing heightened scrutiny over the state of his health. The White House took several days to release doctor’s notes from his physical last week, adding to questions about his overall health.

The New Republic noted that “it’s very difficult to dispute what people can see with their own eyes, and the president’s outward physical appearance coupled with his tendency to fall asleep on camera don’t inspire confidence in his health.”

On Sunday, Axios reported that the White House physician’s health readout left “key blanks unfilled.”

The “memo from White House physician Sean Barbabella didn’t put to rest persistent questions about apparent bruising on Trump’s hands, swollen ankles and his alertness during some public events.” It “again attributed the bruising of his hands to frequent handshaking and aspirin therapy and noted ‘slight lower leg swelling’ it characterized as improved from last year.”

Bob Wachter, chair of the Department of Medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told Axios, “I think it’s quite unusual for someone … who doesn’t have chronic problems that require more frequent monitoring to come in more often than every year.”

President Donald Trump is suggesting he wants to make his acting attorney general, Todd Blanche, permanent.

Critics have charged that Trump has repeatedly pressed for a Justice Department loyal to him rather than independent, and warned he has wanted the attorney general to act as his personal attorney. Now, in Todd Blanche, he may have the attorney general he always wanted.

Two months ago Blanche, who once served as Trump’s personal attorney, became the acting United States attorney general, after Trump terminated Pam Bondi.

On Wednesday, Trump was asked if Blanche would become the permanent attorney general.

“I think he will,” Trump told Pod Force One, according to The Guardian.

“Todd’s doing a very good job at DOJ,” Trump also said, according to video of the interview.

Asked if he had anyone else in mind for the role, Trump replied, “No, no.”

“I wanted to see how he’s received, you know, we put him as acting, and he’s done a very good job, but I’ve known him a long time,” Trump said.

When pressed if Florida Republican Governor Ron DeSantis might be among candidates for attorney general, Trump said no.

“No, Ron’s very good,” the president remarked.

“There are some good names, though. I had never thought, Ron never talked about it. He’s a governor, doing a good job. But Ron’s good. He is a friend of mine. Just named an airport after me, you know?”

“They named Palm Beach International Airport, The President Donald J. Trump International Airport,” he said, calling it “a great honor.”

Asked if he was “happy with the pace of what the Department of Justice is doing?” Trump replied, “Well, much more so now than at the beginning,” suggesting he was dissatisfied with Bondi.

Critics had charged that Bondi would become too loyal to the president.

During her confirmation hearing, U.S. Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL), said that Trump “has made it clear that he values one thing above all else in an Attorney General: loyalty.”

In April, The Guardian reported that “Blanche has aggressively moved to deploy the department’s resources to please Donald Trump, leaving little doubt about how the president’s former personal attorney would further politicize the department if his status atop US law enforcement becomes permanent.”

Blanche recently came under fire for signing an order stating that Trump and his family could never be investigated by the IRS.

“The memo prohibits the IRS from pursuing claims against Trump, his family or his businesses, saying the agency ‘releases, waives, acquits’ its pending action and is ‘forever barred and precluded’ from pursuing claims against the president,” The Hill reported. “The New York Times and ProPublica previously found a years-long audit of his tax bill could cost Trump as much as $100 million.”

Image via Reuters