The doctor Trump relied on to write his meager medical report turns out to be a long-time member of the former president’s golf club in New Jersey.
Bruce A. Aronwald, 64, described as a “fixture” at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, performed Trump’s medical examination on September 13, 2023.
In his report, released in November, Aronwald offered a glowing assessment of Trump’s health.
At the beginning of the letter, Aronwald noted that he had become Trump’s personal doctor in 2021.
He stated that, as the former president’s personal physician, he had “supervised specialist consultations along with ancillary tests for screening and preventive health maintenance.”
Trump, pictured here at his golf course, released a medical report in November in which Dr. Bruce A. Aronwald offered scant medical details about the former president’s health. Instead, Aronwald wrote that Trump’s “overall health is excellent.”
Dr. Aronwald, pictured on his LinkedIn profile, is a long-time member of Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey, where they have often been seen together near the pool.
Without going into details, Aronwald wrote that “President Trump’s overall health is excellent.”
The doctor noted that Trump’s physical exams were “well within the normal range” and that his cognitive test results were “exceptional.”
Aronwald concluded his report, which consisted of three paragraphs, with his opinion “that President Trump is currently in excellent health.”
The doctor said that with Trump’s “continued interest in preventive health monitoring and maintenance, he will continue to enjoy a healthy and active lifestyle for years to come.”
Detractors were quick to point out how vague the report was. He omitted Trump’s blood test numbers and did not mention his weight, without which it is impossible to know whether Trump would be considered obese.
The report also did not include any medications Trump may currently be taking.
An earlier report, conducted by a different doctor and released in 2018, showed Trump’s weight was 239 pounds, qualifying him as borderline obese for his 6-foot-3 height.
By contrast, President Biden’s recent medical report was six pages long and offered readers a more comprehensive assessment of the president’s health.
It included cholesterol, blood pressure, weight, and electrocardiogram metrics. The report also revealed details of the president’s blood tests and his current medications.
After the release of Biden’s report, White House spokesman Anrew Bates said, “Joe Biden is proud to have been transparent with his health records as vice president, as a presidential candidate and as president.”
And in a not-so-subtle dig at Trump, the spokesperson added that Biden “believes all leaders owe that level of honesty to the American people.”
Trump’s vague health report became even more controversial once it was revealed that Aronwald, the doctor who wrote it, was a longtime member of Trump’s Bedminster golf course, which opened in 2004.
Trump’s medical report consisted of three paragraphs that refused to mention blood test numbers and Trump’s weight.
Like Biden’s personal physician, Kevin C. O’Connor, Bruce Aronwald is an osteopathic physician, a field of medicine that aims to address patient health from a holistic approach.
Aronwald is originally from Bridgewater, New Jersey. He attended Syracuse University before receiving his osteopathic degree from the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in 1986.
In 2002, Aronwald joined the booming concierge medicine business, which caters to a wealthier clientele. For the price of a high annual fee, patients can enjoy more immediate access to their doctors.
Jack Kripsak, a doctor who has known Trump’s doctor for 50 years, said Washington Post that Aronwald may have previously provided medical services to Trump’s daughter and son-in-law, Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner, who, like Trump, own villas in Bedminster.
Kripsak also informed the Post that Trump personally contacted Aronwald to see if the doctor and golf club member would be his personal doctor.
“It was a surprise to Bruce.” Kripsak recounted: “He called me and said, ‘President Trump called me.'”
Aronwald told Kripsak that Trump “asked me to be his personal doctor.”
The New Jersey doctor is reportedly a regular at Trump’s Bedminster club, where members often see him socializing with Trump and his family near the pool.
“If you’re sitting around the pool, you’ll see it all the time,” one club member told the Washington Post.
They called Aronwald “a fixture” of the golf club.
Trump owns a villa on his golf course in Bedminster. Aronwald reportedly participated in the club’s Senior Interclub Championship. Pictured: The entrance to Trump National Golf Club Bedminster
Aronwald has reportedly participated in the Senior Interclub Championship at the Trump club, and an anonymous source confirmed to The Washington Post that Aronwald is still a member of the golf club.
People have begun to wonder whether Trump might have exerted undue influence on Aronwald in writing the medical report, given the doctor’s membership in the golf club.
It also wouldn’t be the first time the former president has allegedly bullied a doctor into writing a glowing medical evaluation.
In 2015, after Trump announced his candidacy, he wrote on Twitter: “As a presidential candidate, I have instructed my longtime doctor to issue, within two weeks, a complete medical report; it will show perfection.”
But the promised medical report was not imminent. Instead, the day after the tweet, Harold Bornstein, Trump’s doctor at the time who has since died, signed a four-paragraph letter stating that Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”
There was a dearth of detail, and the letter only included basic metrics such as blood pressure and a PSA test for prostate screening.
Bornstein, a gastroenterologist, later recanted the contents of the letter, telling CNN that Trump “dictated that entire letter.” I didn’t write that letter. I made it up as I went along.’
One of Trump’s former doctors, Harold Bornstein, alleged that the former president once made him sign a statement saying he was in perfect health.
The Washington Post asked the Trump campaign if Trump dictated the medical report to Aronwald.
A person authorized to discuss the matter on condition of anonymity responded: “no.”
Given the age of the two main presidential candidates – Trump, 77, and Biden, 81 -, the health of the future chief executive weighs heavily on the minds of voters.
Both Trump and Biden have previously questioned each other’s health. This has increased public scrutiny over his physical and mental fitness.
Critics seized on Trump’s doctor’s comparatively vague medical report as a cop-out on Trump’s part.
But Aronwald’s medical colleagues and patients have stated that during his interactions with the osteopath, he never indicated political persuasion.
Sandeep Tungare, a Democrat and Biden campaign aide, told The Washington Post that he has been a patient of Aronwald’s for three decades.
Tungare revealed that he had never heard Aronwald express political opinions.
“I think he’s a good doctor,” Tungare said.
Ira Monk, president of the American Osteopathic Association, once practiced alongside Aronwald.
Monk told the Post that Aronwald is one of the “best concierge doctors” in New Jersey.
An individual associated with the Trump campaign denied that Trump dictated the letter to Aronwald
He noted that a doctor couldn’t achieve that without being a “sound, fundamentally strong primary care physician.”
Federal campaign finance records reveal only a $1,000 donation in 2015 to the presidential campaign of Chris Christie, the former Republican governor of New Jersey.
Trump, when asked for comment, said Washington Post that ‘Dr. Aronwald is one of the best doctors in all of New Jersey and possibly the entire country.
‘He has a great reputation and I have many friends who have been his patients for years. A great doctor.’