WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump had an annual physical Friday and concluded, “I did well,” praising his own heart, soul and cognitive ability while noting medical reports from White House doctors may not be ready until the weekend.
The 78-year-old, who in January became the oldest in U.S. history to be sworn in as president, spent nearly five hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center undergoing what he called "every test you can imagine.”
Click to Gallery
President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, April 11, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, April 11, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for Trump's annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump gestures from the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump waves to supporters from his limousine as he arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event on energy production in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
“I was there for a long time,” Trump said. “I think I did very well.”
Despite long questioning predecessor Joe Biden’s physical and mental capacity, Trump has routinely kept basic facts about his own health shrouded in secrecy — shying away from traditional presidential transparency on medical issues. He said he believes the doctor's report on his latest physical would be ready on Sunday — though, if history is any indication, that may offer little more than flattery with scarce detail.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said while Trump was still being examined that a “readout from the White House physician” on his health that would be released “as soon as we possibly can” and suggested it’d be comprehensive.
Trump went straight from the examination to Air Force One to fly to Florida for the weekend. Speaking to reporters midflight, he said doctors offered him “a little bit” of advice on lifestyle changes that could improve his health, though he didn't elaborate on what that was.
”Overall, I felt I was in very good shape. A good heart, a good soul, a very good soul," Trump said. He also noted that he took a cognitive test. “I don’t know what to tell you other than I got every answer right,” he said.
He said undergoing mental acuity screening was “what the American people want” and took another shot at his predecessor, saying, “Biden refused to take it.”
The finished medical report would be the first public information on Trump's health since an assassination attempt against him in Butler, Pennsylvania, in July.
Rather than release medical records at that time, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson — a staunch supporter who served as his White House physician and once joked in the White House briefing room that Trump could live to be 200 if he had a healthier diet — wrote a memo describing a gunshot wound to Trump’s right ear.
In a subsequent interview with CBS last August, Trump said he’d “very gladly” release his medical records, but never did.
Trump is four years younger than Biden. But on Inauguration Day of his second term in January, Trump was five months older than Biden was during his 2021 inauguration — making Trump the nation's oldest president to be sworn into office.
Presidents have privacy rights protecting their medical records just like ordinary citizens, and that means they have leeway over what details are released. Modern annual physicals, though, have often played key roles in offering the public a sense of the commander-in-chief's health.
Trump has long opted for offering few substantive details about his health. Before Jackson's memo, the public hadn't seen key details since November 2023, when Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald released a letter to coincide with Biden's 81st birthday, saying Trump was in “excellent” physical and mental health.
The letter, posted on Trump’s social media platform, lacks the basics — such as the Republican's weight, blood pressure and cholesterol levels, or the results of any test. Instead, Aronwald wrote that he'd examined Trump that fall and found his “physical exams were well within the normal range and his cognitive exams were exceptional,” while also noting that Trump had “reduced his weight.”
Trump was treated at Walter Reed, located in Bethesda, Maryland, outside Washington, for his serious bout with the coronavirus in 2020. During that time, Trump’s physician offered a rosy prognosis on his condition, though White House chief of staff Mark Meadows said some of Trump’s vital signs were “very concerning."
After Trump recovered, more details emerged that he had been sicker than he'd let on.
In November 2019, meanwhile, Trump's trip to Walter Reed for a physical was omitted from his public schedule, breaking the White House protocol of giving advance public notice of them.
The visit was revealed three days later, with Trump disclosing that he'd had a “very routine physical.” The White House released a subsequent statement from the president’s then-personal physician, U.S. Navy Cmdr. Sean Conley, saying it had been a “planned interim checkup” kept "off the record” due to scheduling uncertainties.
Arguably, Trump's most famous past comments about his own health came during a television interview in July 2020, when he listed off “Person. Woman. Man. Camera. TV" while attempting to demonstrate his cognitive abilities.
Trump said that a collection of those five nouns, or ones like them, stated in order, demonstrated mental fitness and were part of a cognitive test he had aced. The president was asked about that test again on Air Force One on Friday and responded, “It’s a pretty well known test.”
"Whatever it is, I got every one — I got it all right,” he said.
This story has been corrected to reflect that Trump is four years younger than Biden, not three years younger.
President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, April 11, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
President Donald Trump arrives at Palm Beach International Airport, Friday, April 11, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump's motorcade arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for Trump's annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump gestures from the stairs of Air Force One upon his arrival at Joint Base Andrews, Md., Friday, April 11, 2025. (AP Photo/Luis M. Alvarez)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
CORRECTS TO WALTER REED NATIONAL MILITARY MEDICAL CENTER - President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump arrives at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for his annual physical appointment, Friday, April 11, 2025, in Bethesda, Md. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
President Donald Trump waves to supporters from his limousine as he arrives at Trump International Golf Club, Saturday, March 29, 2025, in West Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump walks after a news conference at Trump National Golf Club, Aug. 15, 2024, in Bedminster, N.J. (AP Photo/Julia Nikhinson, File)
President Donald Trump speaks during an event on energy production in the East Room of the White House, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
U.S. President Donald Trump says Iran has proposed negotiations after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic as an ongoing crackdown on demonstrators has led to hundreds of deaths.
Trump said late Sunday that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports mount of increasing deaths and the government continues to arrest protesters.
“The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night.
Iran did not acknowledge Trump’s comments immediately. It has previously warned the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.
The U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has accurately reported on past unrest in Iran, gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran cross checking information. It said at least 544 people have been killed so far, including 496 protesters and 48 people from the security forces. It said more than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests.
With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.
The Latest:
A witness told the AP that the streets of Tehran empty at the sunset call to prayers each night.
Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”
Another text, addressed “Dear parents,” which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.
The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.
—- By Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Iran drew tens of thousands of pro-government demonstrators to the streets Monday in a show of power after nationwide protests challenging the country’s theocracy.
Iranian state television showed images of demonstrators thronging Tehran toward Enghelab Square in the capital.
It called the demonstration an “Iranian uprising against American-Zionist terrorism,” without addressing the underlying anger in the country over the nation’s ailing economy. That sparked the protests over two weeks ago.
State television aired images of such demonstrations around the country, trying to signal it had overcome the protests, as claimed by Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi earlier in the day.
China says it opposes the use of force in international relations and expressed hope the Iranian government and people are “able to overcome the current difficulties and maintain national stability.”
Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said Monday that Beijing “always opposes interference in other countries’ internal affairs, maintains that the sovereignty and security of all countries should be fully protected under international law, and opposes the use or threat of use of force in international relations.”
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz condemned “in the strongest terms the violence that the leadership in Iran is directing against its own people.”
He said it was a sign of weakness rather than strength, adding that “this violence must end.”
Merz said during a visit to India that the demonstrators deserve “the greatest respect” for the courage with which “they are resisting the disproportional, brutal violence of Iranian security forces.”
He said: “I call on the Iranian leadership to protect its population rather than threatening it.”
Iran’s Foreign Ministry spokesman on Monday suggested that a channel remained open with the United States.
Esmail Baghaei made the comment during a news conference in Tehran.
“It is open and whenever needed, through that channel, the necessary messages are exchanged,” he said.
However, Baghaei said such talks needed to be “based on the acceptance of mutual interests and concerns, not a negotiation that is one-sided, unilateral and based on dictation.”
The semiofficial Fars news agency in Iran, which is close to the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, on Monday began calling out Iranian celebrities and leaders on social media who have expressed support for the protests over the past two weeks, especially before the internet was shut down.
The threat comes as writers and other cultural leaders were targeted even before protests. The news agency highlighted specific celebrities who posted in solidarity with the protesters and scolded them for not condemning vandalism and destruction to public property or the deaths of security forces killed during clashes. The news agency accused those celebrities and leaders of inciting riots by expressing their support.
Canada said it “stands with the brave people of Iran” in a statement on social media that strongly condemned the killing of protesters during widespread protests that have rocked the country over the past two weeks.
“The Iranian regime must halt its horrific repression and intimidation and respect the human rights of its citizens,” Canada’s government said on Monday.
Iran’s foreign minister claimed Monday that “the situation has come under total control” after a bloody crackdown on nationwide protests in the country.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran’s foreign minister alleged Monday that nationwide protests in his nation “turned violent and bloody to give an excuse” for U.S. President Donald Trump to intervene.
Abbas Araghchi offered no evidence for his claim, which comes after over 500 have been reported killed by activists -- the vast majority coming from demonstrators.
Araghchi spoke to foreign diplomats in Tehran. The Qatar-funded Al Jazeera satellite news network, which has been allowed to work despite the internet being cut off in the country, carried his remarks.
Iran has summoned the British ambassador over protesters twice taking down the Iranian flag at their embassy in London.
Iranian state television also said Monday that it complained about “certain terrorist organization that, under the guise of media, spread lies and promote violence and terrorism.” The United Kingdom is home to offices of the BBC’s Persian service and Iran International, both which long have been targeted by Iran.
A huge crowd of demonstrators, some waving the flag of Iran, gathered Sunday afternoon along Veteran Avenue in LA’s Westwood neighborhood to protest against the Iranian government. Police eventually issued a dispersal order, and by early evening only about a hundred protesters were still in the area, ABC7 reported.
Los Angeles is home to the largest Iranian community outside of Iran.
Los Angeles police responded Sunday after somebody drove a U-Haul box truck down a street crowded with the the demonstrators, causing protesters to scramble out of the way and then run after the speeding vehicle to try to attack the driver. A police statement said one person was hit by the truck but nobody was seriously hurt.
The driver, a man who was not identified, was detained “pending further investigation,” police said in a statement Sunday evening.
Shiite Muslims hold placards and chant slogans during a protest against the U.S. and show solidarity with Iran in Lahore, Pakistan, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/K.M. Chaudary)
Activists carrying a photograph of Reza Pahlavi take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House, in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Activists take part in a rally supporting protesters in Iran at Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)
Protesters burn the Iranian national flag during a rally in support of the nationwide mass demonstrations in Iran against the government in Paris, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Michel Euler)