A new book by New York Times correspondent Michael Schmidt, Donald Trump v. The United States: Inside the Struggle to Stop a President, is turning up a lot of new information about the 45th president, and one story in particular has gotten under his skin.
Trump was rushed to Walter Reed Medical Center last November in a visit that “did not follow the protocol of a routine presidential medical exam,” CNN reported at the time.
Of course the White House deflected at the time, saying it was one segment of a routine check-up.
Schmidt relates a fact about the visit that was heretofore unknown: that Vice President Mike Pence had been put “on standby” to take over as president should Trump have needed to go under general anesthesia.
Schmidt’s report has led to speculation on social media that Trump suffered a series of mini-strokes, something he vehemently denied in a tweet on Tuesday morning.
Tweeted Trump: “It never ends! Now they are trying to say that your favorite President, me, went to Walter Reed Medical Center, having suffered a series of mini-strokes. Never happened to THIS candidate – FAKE NEWS. Perhaps they are referring to another candidate from another Party!”
Said Rachel Maddow on Monday night, of the Trump anesthesia report: “To state the obvious, that is not something that happens when you go in for a segment of your physical. If you had to go under general anesthesia to have a physical, nobody would have an annual physical.”
