The White House has criticized a CNN journalist, labeling him as ‘an idiot’ following a report concerning Donald Trump’s age.
Journalist Kevin Liptak’s article on Tuesday carried the headline: ‘Trump’s advanced age and threats to his life serve as reminders of his own mortality.’
The White House’s rapid response team swiftly reacted, issuing a derogatory comment alongside an alternative perspective.
‘The “threats to his life serve as reminders” that Radical Left extremists – spurred on by media outlets like CNN – persist in their attempts to harm him,’ they stated.
‘Additionally, @POTUS accomplishes more in a single day than you have in your entire career,’ the account posted on X.
In addition to the ‘idiot’ remark, Liptak was directly mentioned in the post, which also displayed a screenshot of the senior reporter’s byline.
The story itself centered around Trump’s health and the swirl of public attention it has received ahead of his 80th birthday next month, after roughly a year of scrutiny.
It also touched on the recent, ‘repeated’ attempts on the President’s life, all as the conservative traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for his annual physical.
The White House slammed a CNN reporter as ‘an idiot’ on Tuesday, over a report published about Donald Trump’s age and mortality. It came the same day the President traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a physical
The story itself centered around Trump’s health and the swirl of public attention it has received in recent months, and was met with a scathing response from The White House’s rapid response team
‘Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY. Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff!’ Trump wrote afterward on social media.
Liptak’s report discussed how even a clean bill of health may not allay public concerns about Trump’s health, particularly after Joe Biden’s disastrous 2024 election bid.
‘Yet even though Trump is a louder and more visible presence than [Biden] was during his presidency, he still travels less often than he did during his first term and has on multiple occasions closed his eyes for long stretches during on-camera events,’ a portion read.
Liptak went on to outline the President’s purported ‘physical deterioration’, including recent bruising spotted on his hands and swelling in his legs.
The White House said the bruising is the result of Trump’s regular Aspirin use and that the swelling stems from a condition called chronic venous insufficiency (CVI).
The President’s physician also wrote in a memo last July that the latter was ‘a benign and common condition’ that showed no evidence of any serious arterial disease.
In the CNN piece, a statement from Trump’s ex-personal physician, Harold Bornstein, was also cited. Bornstein explained how a clean bill of health he gave Trump before his 2016 election run was actually ‘dictated’ to him by the then-candidate himself.
Liptak went on to insist that ‘medical episodes peppered Trump’s first term.’ Examples given included a colonoscopy the President underwent in November 2019 and a positive COVID-19 test in October 2020.
Senior White House Reporter Kevin Liptak was slammed as an ‘idiot’ for the report, which also touched on the recent, ‘repeated’ attempts on Trump’s life
Trump’s purported ‘physical deterioration’ was also outlined, including recent bruising seen on his hands like this mark in January
‘Just finished my 6 month physical at Walter Reed Military Medical Center. Everything checked out PERFECTLY. Thank you to the great Doctors and Staff!’ Trump wrote on Truth Social ahead of his return to the White House on Tuesday
The rapid response team took another shot at Liptak in the afternoon, posting a photo of him reporting on Trump’s visit to Walter Reed on Tuesday, with his gaze averted down. The team joked that he was ‘sleeping on air’
In both cases, Liptak wrote, Trump’s White House was less than forthcoming.
The reporter reminded onlookers how the public only came to know the November 2019 visit was for a colonoscopy after nearly two years of waiting and that the White House ‘failed to disclose the severity of’ the COVID case at the time.
‘I don’t know how he’s alive, but he is,’ Trump’s Health and Human Services Secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr, was quoted as saying during a January podcast appearance, where he discussed Trump’s well-known love for Diet Coke and McDonald’s.
‘It’s a dangerous life,’ Trump said in another featured quote, at the time speaking to still-stunned attendees of last month’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner after the assassination attempt.
Liptak remarked at a point on the ‘remarkable sangfroid’ seen from the oldest-ever inaugurated president.
‘Yet people who have spoken to Trump say his personal safety is never far from mind, even as he attempts to avoid it becoming a debilitating fixation,’ he wrote.
When asked about the White House’s scathing response, CNN declined to comment.
The rapid response team took another shot at Liptak in the afternoon – several hours after the first – with a post that included a photo of him reporting on Trump’s Walter Reed visit on Tuesday, with his eyes down.
‘What’s going on with @Kevinliptakcnn’s health? He’s sleeping on air!’ the White House remarked, as it appeared the reporter’s eyes were closed.
Several posts of CNN stars such as Kate Bolduan, Jake Tapper, Kevin Liptak, Dana Bash, Josh Dawsey and Brianna Keilar with their eyes closed followed.
Tuesday’s physical exam was the fourth of Trump’s second term. He attacked Biden during his most recent campaign for things like slowed speech and filmed flubs seen over the course of his four years in office.
Tapper’s book about Biden’s mental decline, meanwhile, came out a year ago and is now a New York Times bestseller. High-ranking Democrats helped keep it a secret, according to sources who spoke to Tapper and coauthor Alex Thompson for the book.
Trump is set to ring in his 80th birthday on June 14.
On Saturday, the Secret Service shot and killed a man who fired a gun near the White House. He has not yet been officially identified.
