President Donald Trump is in 'exceptional health,' his doctor says, after visit to Walter Reed

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is in “exceptional health," his physician said Friday after he underwent a checkup that included lab tests and preventive health assessments at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center.

Trump spent roughly three hours at the Bethesda, Maryland, hospital earlier Friday for what his doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, called a “scheduled follow-up evaluation" that was a “part of his ongoing health maintenance plan.” While there, Trump also got his yearly flu shot, as well as a COVID-19 booster vaccine.

“President Donald J. Trump remains in exceptional health, exhibiting strong cardiovascular, pulmonary, neurological and physical performance,” Barbabella wrote in a one-page memo released Friday night by the White House. The doctor noted in the memo that the evaluation helped prepare for Trump's upcoming overseas trips and included advanced imaging, lab testing and preventive health assessments.

The president is traveling to the Middle East this weekend and is scheduled to fly to Asia at the end of this month.

Barbabella also said he evaluated Trump's cardiac age, which was about 14 years younger than his chronological age. Trump is 79 and was the oldest U.S. president at his inauguration.

The White House this week initially described Trump's Walter Reed visit as a “routine yearly checkup,” although Trump had his annual physical in April. The president then called it a “semiannual physical."

Trump's April physical found that he was “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief. The three-page summary of the exam done by Barbabella then said he had lost 20 pounds (9 kilograms) since a medical exam in June 2020 and said he has an “active lifestyle” that “continues to contribute significantly” to the well-being of the president.

In July, the White House announced that Trump had recently undergone a medical checkup after noticing “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in his veins. Tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly.

At the April physical, Trump also passed a short screening test to assess different brain functions.

Presidents have large discretion over what health information they choose to release to the public. Trump’s summary from his April exam included information about his weight, body mass index, past surgeries, mental health screenings, cholesterol levels and blood pressure.

When spokesperson Karoline Leavitt discussed the results of his chronic venous insufficiency diagnosis from the briefing room, she noted that the White House was disclosing details of the checkup to dispel rumors about Trump’s health. At the time, Trump was frequently observed with bruising on his hand.

The Republican president has also repeatedly used the issue of health as a political cudgel. He repeatedly questioned the mental and physical health of his Democratic predecessor, President Joe Biden, and pointed out that he has undergone cognitive testing that Biden hadn’t.

Biden has brushed aside those criticisms and said he was fit to serve, but he dropped out of the 2024 race for the White House after a disastrous debate with Trump raised doubts about his fitness for office.

President Donald Trump departs Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump departs Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., Friday, Oct. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Mark Schiefelbein)

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn after arriving on Marine One at the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump walks on the South Lawn after arriving on Marine One at the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump boards Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington, as he heads to Walter Reed National Military Center. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump walks from the Oval Office to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington, as he heads to Walter Reed National Military Center. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump walks to board Marine One on the South Lawn of the White House, Friday, Oct. 10, 2025, in Washington, as he heads to Walter Reed National Military Center. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with Finland's President Alexander Stubb in the Oval Office at the White House, Thursday, Oct. 9, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

A Tennessee man charged with killing four members of the same family and kidnapping a baby before eluding authorities for a week is scheduled Monday to make his first court appearance since he was indicted.

Austin Robert Drummond is expected to appear before a judge for an afternoon arraignment in circuit court in Lake County, located in rural northwest Tennessee.

A grand jury indicted Drummond on Nov. 10 on charges including first-degree murder and aggravated kidnapping in the July 29 shootings. Drummond had pleaded not guilty in a lower court before a judge ruled there was enough evidence for his case to proceed to the grand jury.

Drummond is accused of the deaths of the parents, grandmother and uncle of an infant found abandoned in a home’s front yard in rural west Tennessee. A weeklong search for Drummond ended on Aug. 5 in Jackson, about 70 miles (115 kilometers) southeast of the location of the killings in Tiptonville.

Prosecutors have said they plan to seek the death penalty if Drummond is convicted of first-degree murder at trial.

An FBI agent testified at a hearing in September that data from a cellphone used by Drummond showed he was in the vicinity of a wooded area where the bodies were found with gunshot wounds and covered by tarpaulins.

But Drummond’s attorney, Bryan Huffman, argued that there was no evidence presented during the hearing that showed Drummond actually shot any of the victims.

On the day of the shootings, officers responded to a call of an infant in a car seat being dropped off at a “random individual’s front yard” roughly 40 miles (65 kilometers) from Tiptonville, the Dyer County Sheriff’s Office has said.

Then investigators in neighboring Lake County reported four people had been found dead from gunshot wounds in Tiptonville. They were identified as the baby’s parents, James M. Wilson, 21, and Adrianna Williams, 20; Williams’ brother, Braydon Williams, 15; and their mother, Cortney Rose, 38.

Drummond’s girlfriend is the sister of the infant’s grandmother, according to Lake County District Attorney Danny Goodman.

In all, five people have been charged with being accessories after the fact in the case.

Drummond has served prison time for robbing a convenience store and threatening to go after jurors. He was also charged with the attempted murder of a prison guard while behind bars, and he was out on bond at the time of the killings, Goodman has said.

With a population of about 3,400 people, Tiptonville is about 120 miles (195 kilometers) north of Memphis, near the Mississippi River and scenic Reelfoot Lake.

FILE - Defendant Austin Drummond, accused of quadruple murder, appears in court during a preliminary hearing Sept. 4, 2025, in Tiptonville, Tenn. (AP Photo/George Walker IV, Pool, File)