New bruises on Donald Trump's left hand once again raise questions about his health, nearly a year after he became the oldest president to be sworn in as US head of state.
CNN reported that at a series of events last week, Trump, 79, appeared with discoloration or mild bruising on the back of his left hand, in addition to more persistent bruising on his right hand that had been present for months.
The new bruises appear to complicate the White House's explanation that Trump is right-handed and suffered bruises from constantly shaking hands and regularly taking aspirin, which may have contributed to the skin discoloration.
And while medical experts told CNN there was no new cause for concern, calling it likely a benign condition common in older people, they warned that Trump's reluctance to be more transparent about his health only threatens to increase the scrutiny he has fought all year to avoid.
“They just pique curiosity,” said Dr. Jeffrey Linder, chairman of the department of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. “He's in the public eye, he has a certain image he wants to project, and even little things like that take away from that image.”
The new bruise on Trump's left arm is the latest development to fuel speculation about his health since the president returned to the White House, a sensitive subject for him that he has tried to counter by frequently boasting about his energy.
Trump won in 2024 in part by raising voters' concerns about former President Joe Biden's age and physical and mental fitness to hold office. Trump continues to use Biden, 83, as a rhetorical point and rejects any comparisons to the former president even though they are nearly the same age, often downplaying his predecessor's weaknesses and punctuating his public events with the question: “Do you think Biden can do it?”
Yet although Trump maintains a much more active public schedule, he is sometimes haunted by questions about his own health. CNN recalls that, after photos showing swollen legs were published over the summer, the White House announced in July that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition common in older people.
Recently, when questions were raised about the bruise on Trump's left arm, the White House refused to give any new explanation.
“President Trump is a man of the people, and he meets and shakes hands with more Americans every day than any other president in history,” said spokeswoman Caroline Leavitt.
Several medical experts who reviewed photos of Trump's left hand told CNN that the skin discoloration was unlikely to be caused by a handshake, since Trump is right-handed, but that his age and aspirin regimen could have some similar explanations.
“Bruises can happen just once when you have some kind of trauma, you hit something,” said Dr. Jonathan Reiner, former Vice President Dick Cheney's longtime cardiologist. “Aspirin will make you bruise more easily.”
Reiner, who cautioned that he had not personally examined Trump, added that he often sees similar bruising in patients taking blood thinners stronger than aspirin, raising questions about whether Trump would disclose all the medications he takes.
Such drugs are common and not a sign of any serious health problems, he said, pointing out that Biden has revealed that he used the blood thinner Eliquis while in office.
“The issue now is not about medicine but about transparency,” Reiner said.
The White House did not answer questions about Trump's medications and whether he had fully disclosed them all, instead criticizing the close monitoring of his health.
“Any so-called medical expert who engages in armchair diagnosis or false speculation for political purposes violates the Hippocratic Oath they took and must be medically examined,” Communications Director Stephen Cheung said in a statement.
Trump has long had bruises on his right arm, which CNN reported before he returned to the White House. But it attracted more attention after he started trying to hide them with heavy makeup and bandages, while also covering them from the camera with his other hand – moves that only increased suspicion.
The White House highlighted the bruises on Trump's right arm when he announced his diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency. A letter issued by his doctor at the time said: “President Trump remains in excellent health.”
After the president appeared to fall asleep during an Oval Office event in November, the White House denied he had fallen asleep and denounced it as a “trash story.”
A New York Times report published days later about Trump's health and daily habits drew personal outrage from the president, who called it a “sensation” in a social media post. But during a Cabinet meeting in early December, Trump again spent an hour appearing to doze off. (The White House said Trump “listened carefully and attended the three-hour Cabinet meeting.”)
Now, photos of Trump's left hand have been circulating on social media for days, adding to what voters see as they follow the second-term president, who is about to turn eighty.
