US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the New York City Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2019 in New York
US President Donald Trump delivers remarks during the New York City Veterans Day Parade on November 11, 2019 in New York AFP / Brendan Smialowski

President Donald Trump has denied speculations about his health that included rumors of a heart attack. The media was abuzz with speculation after the President’s unscheduled visit to the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland.

During a press conference, Trump discussed his recent visit to the hospital and flayed news organizations for spreading “misinformation” about his health, per BBC news.

Some reports had highlighted the deviation from the normal procedure for a presidential medical examination.

Unlike previous visits that are notified in advance and slotted in his public diary, the Saturday visit to the Walter Reed Medical Center was almost sudden.

Skeptics challenge the official version

The weekend visit to the Medical Center raised suspicions about Trump’s health, despite White House insisting that the President was only getting an early head start on his annual check-up.

White House Press secretary Stephanie Grisham said the 73-year-old Trump was “anticipating a very busy 2020” and wanted “a free weekend” in Washington for starting portions of his routine check-up.

The White House official added that the president had gotten “a quick exam and labs.”

“The President remains healthy and energetic without complaints, as demonstrated by his repeated vigorous rally performances in front of thousands of Americans several times a week,” she said.

Grisham also shared a memorandum from the president’s physician, Sean Conley, who described Saturday’s visit as “routine, planned interim check-up as part of the regular, primary preventative care he received throughout the year.”

The doctor says Trump had no chest pain

Conley explained that Trump’s trip to the health center was kept off the record because of scheduling uncertainties.

The doctor also said: “Despite some of the speculation, the President has not had any chest pain, nor was he evaluated or treated for any urgent or acute issues.”

Conley said Trump's cholesterol level was 165, down from 196. Anything below 170 is considered good, reported AP news.

But skeptics are not buying Grisham’s explanation.

Joe Lockhart, a press secretary under President Bill Clinton said. “It means that we just won’t know what the medical issue was. The one thing you can be sure of is this was not routine and he didn’t go up there for half his physical.”

Kathleen Hall Jamieson, director of the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania, said the press is within its rights in asking questions about the president’s health.

She said there is a long history of presidents hiding physical ailments. Jamieson said the reasonable question is: “If this is routine, why it was not handled under the routine protocol?”

To that question, Grisham replied, “everything the White House has said about the Walter Reed visit was true and accurate.”