Donald Trump Said That He Had an MRI During a Recent Checkup, but What Was It For?

Through most of American history, the health of the president has been one of the chief concerns of the American public. For that reason, presidents are ordinarily pretty transparent about their own health, although both President Biden and President Trump have sidestepped that long-running trend.

Just recently, Trump announced that, during a recent visit to Walter Reed Medical Center, he received an MRI. Naturally, given that he's one of the most powerful men on the planet, many wanted to know what that MRI might have been for. Here's what we know.

“I did. I got an MRI. It was perfect,” Trump said while speaking to reporters on Air Force One on Oct. 27, per CNN. “I gave you the full results. We had an MRI, and the machine, you know, the whole thing, and it was perfect."

Trump didn't offer any details about why he received the MRI, and when he was asked, he told reporters that they should "ask the doctors."

Trump also claimed that the White House had provided a “very conclusive” report of the exam, but the White House has yet to explain why Trump visited the medical center for the second time in a single year. Usually, a president will have a medical checkup once a year, but Trump had already been to Walter Reed in April.

Trump, who is 79, is the second oldest president in the history of the country.

“I think they gave you a very conclusive – nobody has ever given you reports like I gave you. And if I didn’t think it was going to be good, either, I would let you know negatively, I wouldn’t run. I’d do something. But the doctor said some of the best reports for the age, some of the best reports they’ve ever seen,” he said.

Of course, Trump is not eligible to serve a third term as president, but it's unclear whether he's planning to abide by that rule.

According to the Cleveland Clinic, an MRI is used to produce clear images of the organs and other structures inside the human body. Because we don't know what part of the body Trump had scanned, it's difficult to say exactly what the MRI was used for in these circumstances.

An MRI can be used to look at:

• Your brain and surrounding nerve tissue

• Organs in your chest and abdomen, including your heart, liver, biliary tract, kidneys, spleen, bowel, pancreas, and adrenal glands

• Breast tissue
• Your spine and spinal cord

• Pelvic organs, including your bladder and reproductive organs (uterus and ovaries in females and the prostate gland in males)

• Blood vessels

• Lymph nodes

Given that wide range of potential organs, it's hard to know for sure which thing Trump had scanned, or for what reason. We know he was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency because of swelling in his legs earlier this year. We also know that there has been speculation about the state of his mental health for some time, although there's no firm evidence there.