WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in May 2026 for annual preventive medical and dental checkups. The visit was Trump's fourth publicly disclosed medical exam since he returned to office for a second term.

Trump previously visited Walter Reed twice in 2025, in April and October, and saw his dentist in West Palm Beach in January 2026 and again earlier in May 2026 for a follow-up. Trump will turn 80 in June 2026 and was the oldest person elected U.S. president.

A poll conducted by Washington Post/ABC News/Ipsos in April 2026 found that less than half of U.S. adults think Trump has the mental sharpness or physical health to serve effectively as president.

"I think concern for the president's physical health is probably at an all-time high, and I think advanced physical age is the No. 1 concern," said Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as a White House physician under Presidents Barack Obama, George W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. According to Kuhlman, a complete physical for a president of Trump's age would be expected to include advanced heart testing, screening for common cancers, a cognitive assessment, and measurements of height, weight, and blood pressure.

Trump's physicians reported a score of 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment during his 2018 and 2025 checkups. In July 2025, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common condition in older adults that causes blood to pool in the veins. Photographs have shown Trump with swollen feet, ankles, and calves, which the White House described as a symptom of the condition causing mild swelling in his lower legs.

Following his October 2025 exam, Trump's physician issued a one-page summary stating the president was in exceptional health without divulging many specific results. In a statement about that visit, Dr. Sean Barbabella, Trump's physician, said, "President Trump agreed to meet with the staff and soldiers at Walter Reed Medical Hospital in October. In order to make the most of the President's time at the hospital, we recommended he undergo another routine physical evaluation to ensure continued optimal health." Barbabella added, "As part of that examination, we asked the President if he would undergo advanced imaging — either an MRI or CT Scan — to definitively rule out any cardiovascular issues. The President agreed, and our team of consultants performed a CT Scan. As we revealed in the post-examination report, the advanced imaging was perfectly normal and revealed absolutely no abnormalities." After his April 2025 visit to Walter Reed, Barbabella said Trump remains in excellent health, exhibiting robust cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and general physical function.

There is no law requiring U.S. presidents to disclose their medical records. "Just like any other patient, presidents get to choose what's disclosed about their health," said Sara Rosenthal, a bioethicist at the University of Kentucky who studies presidential health. She added, "I think we can expect very little disclosure about the true health status of any president unless they're in perfect health." Rosenthal suggested an independent medical organization review and report on the health of the president and those in the line of succession.

More than 30 neurologists, psychiatrists, and other medical experts issued a statement in April 2026 saying Trump was mentally unfit to serve and warned of an increasingly dangerous decline in his behavior based on objectively observable signs of serious medical concern, while acknowledging they had never examined him. If Trump were given anesthesia during his May 2026 exam, Vice President JD Vance would be expected to assume temporary control of the office under the 25th Amendment.