President Donald Trump’s physician said Tuesday that he had “no concerns” about the President’s mental acuity and had not planned to perform a cognitive exam on him — until Trump asked him for one.
“The reason that we did the cognitive assessment is, plain and simple, because the President asked me to do it,” Rear Admiral Ronny Jackson, MD told members of the media.
The topic of Trump’s mental stability returned to headlines after publication of the book “Fire and Fury,” in which author Michael Wolff reported that Trump’s inner circle had concerns about his mental stability.
Trump responded by claiming to be a “very stable genius.” Many weren’t convinced.
Dr. Jackson said he’d never doubted Trump’s mental fitness.
“I didn’t think it was indicated and I didn’t think we should do it,” he said, referring to the cognitive assessment Trump had requested and citing his day-to-day interactions with the President since January of last year.
He described the cognitive assessment he gave Trump as “one of the ones that was a little bit more involved, it was longer, it was the more difficult one of all of them.”
“It took significantly longer to complete but the President did exceedingly well on it,” Jackson said. He specified separately that he’d used the Montreal Cognitive Assessment.
This post has been updated.