Oct. 14 (UPI) — More than 230 doctors and nurses, most of whom are backing Vice President Kamala Harris for president, are calling on former President Donald Trump to release his medical records.
“Vice President Kamala Harris has released a credible, transparent update on her health and medical history, and Donald Trump has not,” the health professionals wrote in an open letter Sunday, days after the Democratic nominee released her own health report.
Trump, the Republican nominee for president, turned 78 in June. Harris turns 60 on Sunday.
“While many older adults are highly functional, age can also come with cognitive changes that affect our ability to function well in complex settings. We are seeing that from Trump, as he uses his rallies and appearances to ramble, meander and crudely lash out at his many perceived grievances,” the letter claims.
During his rallies, Trump often lashes out at the current administration over immigration, inflation and world conflicts, as well as the many indictments he faces.
In a statement Saturday, the Trump campaign’s communications director Steven Cheung said Trump has “voluntarily released updates from his personal physician, as well as detailed reports from Dr. Ronny Jackson, who treated him after the first assassination attempt.”
“All have concluded he is in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief,” Cheung added.
According to a statement by Jackson, Trump was thoroughly evaluated following the assassination attempt in July, which included a CT of his head after a bullet clipped his ear, and was reported to be “doing extremely well.”
Trump also released a doctor’s assessment in November that says he is in “overall excellent health” with “exceptional” cognitive exams.
On Saturday, Harris released a two-page report — based on an April examination done by Dr. Joshua Simmons, who is assigned as her personal physician while she is vice president.
“Vice President Harris is a healthy 59-year-old female who has a medical history notable for season allergies and urticaria,” Simmons wrote. Urticaria is the medical term for hives, which Harris controls with antihistamines. She “remains in excellent health,” Simmons added.
The doctors, who are calling for Trump to release his own medical records, also questioned the former president’s decision to back out of an interview with 60 Minutes and debate Harris for a second time, claiming those are “both venues where the country might be able to more adequately assess his demeanor and fitness.”
Trump has repeatedly said he has no plans to participate in additional debates beyond his meetings with President Joe Biden in June and Harris in September, over what he claims is a Democrat media bias.
While the group of doctors said the “American people deserve to have confidence in their elected officials’ mental and physical capacity to do the jobs they’ve elected them to do,” Trump’s campaign said his daily schedule is proof of his stamina.
“He has maintained an extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history, whereas Kamala Harris has been unable to keep up with the demands of campaigning,” Cheung claimed. “Her schedule is much lighter because, it is said, she does not have the stamina of President Trump.”
