Trump's Doctor Claims AI Scan Reveals the Heart of a 65-Year-Old — Cardiologists Are Not Convinced

The White House declared Donald Trump, 79, to be in 'excellent health' after his latest physical, but the AI-generated cardiac finding at the centre of that claim has drawn sharp scepticism from cardiologists.

US Navy Captain Sean P. Barbabella, the president's physician, released a three-page memo late on 30 May 2026 following Trump's annual examination at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

The report confirmed a 14-pound weight gain since April 2025, a recommendation to switch to low-dose aspirin that the president has openly declined to follow, and an AI-enhanced electrocardiogram finding that Barbabella described as evidence that Trump's cardiac age is approximately 14 years below his chronological age. Within hours, prominent cardiologists were publicly disputing the clinical value of that specific metric.

What the Barbabella Memo Says

Trump's vital statistics in the report are straightforward. At the time of his 26 May examination, he stood 6 feet 3 inches tall and weighed 238 pounds, placing his body mass index at 29.7, at the very top of the overweight range, a single decimal point below the clinical obesity threshold of 30. His resting heart rate was recorded at 73 beats per minute. Blood pressure came in at 105/71 mmHg, and pulse oximetry read 98% on room air. All lab values, including total cholesterol at 143 mg/dL and LDL at 53 mg/dL, were reported as within normal ranges.

On cognitive function, Barbabella confirmed Trump completed the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, scoring 30 out of 30, a result consistent with his previous examinations. Trump also completed the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 and Generalised Anxiety Disorder-7 screeners for depression and anxiety, both of which returned normal results.

The report noted slight lower-leg swelling, attributed to chronic venous insufficiency first identified in 2025, with the memo recording 'improvement from last year.'

The cardiac section of the report described a normal echocardiogram, a preserved ejection fraction, a clear carotid ultrasound and no evidence of arterial obstruction. Barbabella wrote that Trump 'remains in excellent health, demonstrating strong cardiac, pulmonary, neurological and overall physical function,' and that he is 'fully fit to carry out all duties of the Commander-in-Chief,' according to CNN's reporting on the released memo.

AI Cardiac Age Claim and Expert Pushback

The headline-grabbing figure in the report was the AI-enhanced electrocardiogram estimate, which Barbabella described as a 'validated measure of cardiovascular vitality via ECG' showing Trump's cardiac age to be approximately 14 years younger than his chronological age, effectively positioning a man turning 80 next month as having the heart of a 65-year-old. The president himself posted on Truth Social immediately after the exam that everything had checked out 'PERFECTLY.'

Cardiologists reacted with notable scepticism. Speaking on CNN's Laura Coates Live, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, a cardiologist, said he had discussed the AI finding with colleagues and the reaction was uniform. 'When I discuss this with some of my colleagues in cardiology, everyone laughed,' he said. 'That's not a clinically used tool. There was one paper on this technology, so that's not really a way to gauge cardiac health.'

Dr. Vin Gupta, NBC News's medical analyst and former chief medical officer at Amazon Pharmacy, separately described the overall health assessment as 'performative and nonsensical,' citing a pattern of credibility concerns with the White House's medical communications. Gupta pointed to the confusion earlier in Trump's second term when Barbabella's office released a memo stating Trump had undergone an MRI, only for the president to acknowledge on Air Force One that it had been a CT scan. 'How does a physician, especially the physician to the president, not know what advanced imaging their patient is getting?' Gupta said.

Independent analysis of AI-ECG age estimation technology has also noted that such models tend to underestimate cardiac age in adults over 70, meaning a below-chronological-age result for a 79-year-old may partly reflect a known pattern in the algorithm rather than exceptional heart health. The technology remains an emerging metric not yet standardised across clinical settings, according to peer-reviewed research cited in assessments of the report.

Aspirin Dispute and Unanswered Questions

One of the more consequential disclosures in the Barbabella memo was buried in its preventive counselling section. The doctor noted that Trump had been advised to switch to low-dose aspirin. That recommendation reflects a long-running standoff between the president and his medical team. Trump takes 325mg of aspirin daily, four times the 81mg low dose typically recommended for cardiovascular prevention in the United States. He has been open about disregarding his doctors on this point.

'They'd rather have me take the smaller one. I take the larger one,' Trump told The Wall Street Journal in an interview published in January 2026, adding that he has been on the same routine for roughly 25 years. 'I'm a little superstitious,' he explained. Barbabella confirmed the 325mg dosage to the Journal at the time. The Mayo Clinic notes that while low-dose aspirin can reduce heart attack and stroke risk in certain high-risk patients, the 325mg standard-strength dose is primarily used for pain relief and specific cardiac cases, and daily use at that level raises bleeding risk, particularly in older adults.

The hand bruising that has drawn sustained public attention throughout Trump's second term was addressed in the memo, with Barbabella attributing it to 'frequent handshaking in the setting of aspirin use.' The report noted a normal coagulation profile. Trump himself has covered the bruising with make-up on multiple documented occasions and acknowledged as much to The Wall Street Journal. Gupta, speaking to Zeteo podcaster John Harwood, said the dorsal-hand bruising pattern raises questions that he would want further investigated, particularly given the president's age.

The report did not address Trump's diet in any specific clinical detail beyond the general recommendation to lose weight and increase physical activity. Trump has publicly stated he dislikes exercise, saying in January, 'To walk on a treadmill or run on a treadmill for hours and hours like some people do, that's not for me.' His weight has risen 14 pounds in 13 months, from 224lbs at his April 2025 exam to 238lbs at this visit, according to Time's reporting on the memo.

A three-page memo issued by a physician who works for the man being examined has never been a substitute for independent medical assessment, and the gap between what the White House declares and what cardiologists will endorse has rarely been wider.