Source: Politics<\/p>\n
It was one of the great mysteries of his time in office. Why, exactly, did President Donald Trump make an unscheduled trip to Walter Reed National Medical Center one sunny Saturday afternoon in November 2019? <\/p>\n
A wide range of conspiracy theories was birthed from that moment \u2014 It was a heart ailment! He had a stroke! An impeachment driven anxiety attack? \u2014 further fueled by the fact that a White House famous for leaks steadfastly refused to explain it. Indeed, aides themselves didn\u2019t know. And those who did were incredibly tight-lipped about it. Until now. <\/p>\n
In her tell-all book, former White House press secretary and chief of staff to the first lady Stephanie Grisham strongly implies that Trump went to Walter Reed for a routine colonoscopy as part of his annual physical. She never explicitly says so. But multiple former officials confirmed that that was, in fact, the reason. <\/p>\n
Grisham\u2019s book states that Trump made the decision to keep his visit under wraps because, she suspects, he didn\u2019t want to be the \u201cbutt of the joke\u201d on late night television. The book also states her belief that he avoided anesthesia for the painful and invasive procedure because he didn\u2019t want Vice President Mike Pence to take over temporarily as commander-in-chief and loathed showing any kind of weakness.<\/p>\n
Former White House aides say they\u2019re surprised the detail never got out while Trump was president. After all, just about everything else eventually made its way into TV chyrons and newspaper headlines. <\/p>\n
Instead, the moment became emblematic of another prominent feature of the Trump years: the president taking an otherwise normal event \u2014 in 2018, more than 19 million colonoscopies were performed in the U.S. alone \u2014 and turning it into something far larger and more controversial by his cryptic handling of it. In the process, it fed a destructive feedback loop: in which the White House operates in secrecy, the press gets motivated by it and the resulting speculation and reporting feeds a narrative of media irresponsibility.<\/p>\n
Trump, a notorious germaphobe who is also obsessed with preserving an image of being in extremely top-notch health, went to immense lengths to hide word of his colonoscopy; so much so that few aides beyond Grisham, the president\u2019s physician, and the chief of staff\u2019s office were even made aware at the time of just why he went to the hospital. <\/p>\n
The initial line offered to explain his two-hour visit was that he was simply going in for a routine check up. Grisham herself told reporters he was \u201ctaking advantage of a free weekend\u201d \u2014 a half truth that would raise questions about her current account if not for the fact that others confirmed it. <\/p>\n
Trump himself seemed particularly eager to get on the act of spinning his visit to the doc. <\/p>\n
\u201cI went for a physical on Saturday. My wife said, \u2018Oh darling, that\u2019s wonderful.\u2019 Because I had some extra time,\u201d he said during a Cabinet meeting shortly after the visit took place. \u201cBut I went for a physical and I came back and my wife said, \u2018Oh darling are you OK? What\u2019s wrong? They\u2019re reporting you may have had a heart attack.\u2019 I said why did I have a heart attack? Because you went to Walter Reed, that\u2019s where we go when we get the physicals. I was only there for a very short period of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Trump explained to “Fox & Friends” the following Friday that White House physician, Dr. Sean P. Conley, noticed a break in his schedule and asked if he would come out to Walter Reed for a portion of his physical.<\/p>\n
\u201cI said, yeah, go ahead, let\u2019s go,\u201d Trump recalled. \u201cI start my physical. Go see soldiers. Go see families. Did a little tour of the building. Get back in. On the way back I’m hearing rumors I’m in the hospital. Then I’m hearing rumors that I had chest pains. Then I’m hearing rumors I had a massive heart attack at the time being. Then I’m hearing rumors I’m not coming back, I’m staying at Walter Reed overnight and maybe for a long time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Trump\u2019s incredulousness over the coverage of his Walter Reed visit did little to tamp down speculation about what actually had occurred. In fact, it had the opposite effect. The topic became a fascination for newsrooms. Inside the White House, aides also were searching around for answers. <\/p>\n
The day of the trip itself had been relatively quiet, with the exception of a flurry of tweets from Trump on everything from Donald Trump Jr.\u2019s book to the stock market. Impeachment hearings on Capitol Hill had just taken place but, as was typical on most weekends, there were few staff members around the sleepy West Wing. Then, in the early afternoon, a press wrangler called on the pool to gather for a secret movement. <\/p>\n
A reporter on pool duty later informed the public around 3 p.m. that the president had arrived at the hospital, about 30 minutes north in Bethesda, where they waited for almost two hours. No events were listed in advance on the White House schedule<\/a> for the weekend, and the use of a motorcade on a clear day \u2014 instead of a Marine One helicopter \u2014 only added to speculation about Trump\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cWas he going to the CIA building?\u201d One journalist in the pool that day remembered wondering. \u201cWe didn\u2019t know where we were going, but of course we were trying to think of whether it could be some kind of urgent health issue. We speculated, I think some people wondered if it could be a heart-related issue but no one had any idea and everyone was trying to find out. We were all spitballing.\u201d<\/p>\n