Both “elderly” major party candidates for President should publicly release their full medical histories, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson said on Wednesday morning.
“I think that somebody who is running for President of the United States, particularly if they’re elderly, and that would include both candidates, should disclose their medical history,” Carson, a surrogate for Trump’s campaign, said. Trump is 70 years old and Hillary Clinton is 68.
“As people get older, things begin to happen to them,” the former GOP primary candidate, who is 64, reasoned.
Asked in an MSNBC interview about another surrogate, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, actively promoting conspiracy theories about Hillary Clinton’s health, Carson said “it’s common sense” for both candidates to release their health records to the public.
But Carson said physicians generally don’t make diagnoses “from a long distance,” without examining the patient themselves.
“My diagnosis is that anyone who is elderly should expose their records, and we the people should know what they are,” he said on “Morning Joe.” “It’s a very stressful job, it’s not an 8-hour-a-day job, it’s 24/7, and we need to make sure that is taken care of.”
Trump should “absolutely” be held to the same standard, Carson said.
To date, Trump and Clinton have each only released short medical statements in 2015 and offered no further details about their medical histories, which the New York Times notes is a departure from past candidates.
Watch Carson’s remarks via MSNBC:
.@RealBenCarson says 'elderly' candidates Trump and Clinton should disclose their medical history https://t.co/4kZjR2z7E2
— Morning Joe (@Morning_Joe) August 24, 2016
