Trump says he had a CT scan instead of an MRI

For weeks, President Donald Trump has said he underwent an MRI at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, but when asked about the procedure by the Wall Street Journal in an interview published Thursday, Trump and his doctor said he actually had a CT scan.

“It wasn’t an MRI,” Trump told the Journal. “It was less than that. It was a scan.”

Last month, Trump maintained that he had had an MRI and told reporters on Air Force One that he would “absolutely” release the results.

The White House has not said specifically why Trump received the scan. In November, Trump claimed the MRI was part of his annual physical.

Trump’s doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, told the Journal that the president had a CT scan, not an MRI. Barbabella said Trump’s doctors initially told him they would perform an MRI or CT scan.

Both Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and computed tomography (CT) are imaging methods used by healthcare professionals to look at organs and structures within the body and help diagnose a variety of conditions. While an MRI uses a large magnet and radio waves to generate an image, a CT scan uses x-rays.

On December 1, the White House released the results of Trump’s advanced imaging tests, describing them as “perfectly normal.” Barbabella then said the images help confirm Trump’s overall health and identify any problems early before they become serious.

Barbabella told the Journal that the CT scan was performed “to definitively rule out any cardiovascular problems” and showed no abnormalities.

Barbabella told ABC News in a statement Thursday that the president remains “in exceptional health and perfectly prepared to perform his duties as Commander in Chief.”

In late October, Trump said for the first time that he had undergone an MRI as part of the “advanced imaging” tests he received at Walter Reed.

“I had an MRI. It was perfect,” Trump said at the time. “I mean, I gave you the full results. We had the MRI and the machine, you know, everything, and it was perfect.”

Although Trump said several times that he had undergone an MRI, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told ABC News on Thursday that “Trump’s doctors and the White House have always maintained that the president received advanced imaging.”

Although the advanced footage was taken as a preventive measure, according to the White House and Barbabella, Trump told the Wall Street Journal that he now regrets doing so, and said in the interview that it is being used as “ammunition” against him.

“In retrospect, it’s a shame I took it because it gave them a little bit of ammunition. I would have been a lot better off if they hadn’t, because the fact that I took it was like, ‘Oh, wow, is something wrong?’ Well, that’s okay,” Trump said.

In his interview with the Wall Street Journal, Trump said that the large dose of aspirin he takes daily has caused him to bruise easily, adding that he rejected his doctors’ advice to take a lower dose, adding that he has taken that specific aspirin for 25 years.

“They say aspirin is good for thinning the blood and I don’t want thick blood running through my heart,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal. “I want nice, fine blood to run through my heart. Does that make sense?”

In the Wall Street Journal article, Trump rejected criticism that he has struggled to keep his eyes open during several White House events, appearing to fall asleep.

“I’ll finish. It’s very relaxing for me,” Trump told the Wall Street Journal about not falling asleep at White House events. “Sometimes they take a picture of me blinking, blinking, and they catch me blinking.”

One of the most notable recent examples of this occurred during Trump’s December Cabinet meeting and his November announcement to reduce the cost of weight-loss medications.

The Wall Street Journal reports that staff have advised Trump to try to keep his eyes open during public events and that White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles has urged Cabinet members to shorten their presentations.

The Administrator of the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, who was at the November event where Trump appeared to fall asleep, told the Journal that he thinks Trump got bored.