Donald Trump Says White House Doctor Told Him He’s Healthier Than Barack Obama ‘by Far’ 

President Donald Trump said he was told by a former White House physician that he is “by far the healthiest” when compared with himself and former President Barack Obama.

Speaking at a Hanukkah reception at the White House on Tuesday, Dec. 16, Trump, 79, opened his remarks by condemning the mass shooting in Bondi Beach in Sydney, Australia, on Sunday, Dec. 14, that killed 15 people and injured multiple others.

He then turned to introductions, and when he reached Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, he told the crowd Jackson had once served as his White House doctor. Trump recounted a question he said Jackson was asked: “Who’s the healthiest of all? Was it Barack Hussein Obama? Was it Sleepy Joe Biden? Or was it Donald Trump?” Trump said Jackson’s answer was: “Trump was by far the healthiest.”

Jackson is a retired naval officer who served as the president’s physician during part of Trump’s first term and during Obama’s second term, which began in January 2013. Trump’s first term ran from Jan. 20, 2017, to Jan. 20, 2021.

During Tuesday’s remarks, Trump also claimed Jackson served as the doctor for “all three of us,” including President Joe Biden, 83. Biden was vice president while Jackson served as Obama’s White House doctor, but he had a different physician during his own presidency. Jackson later left the White House Medical Unit and entered politics; he has represented Texas’ 13th Congressional District in Congress since 2021.

Trump repeated the praise, saying Jackson told him he “was by far the healthiest,” adding that he “love[s] him.” He also joked that if Jackson hadn’t said it, “I would never have talked to him again,” before calling him “a great legend.”

Jackson has faced controversies in recent years, including reports that he was demoted by the Navy in 2022 for misconduct during his White House tenure, according to a Washington Post report published in March 2024. In September of this year, Jackson shared on X a June letter from Navy Secretary John C. Phelan informing him that his rank had been reinstated.

This also isn’t the first time Jackson has made sweeping claims about Trump’s health. In an August statement to the Daily Beast shared via the White House, Jackson said, “As President Trump’s former personal physician, former Physician to the President, and White House physician for 14 years across three administrations, I can tell you unequivocally: President Donald J. Trump is the healthiest president this nation has ever seen,” without naming other presidents.

Trump previously cited a similar remark at a Mar-a-Lago gala on Nov. 14, 2024, according to Newsweek. “They [the press] asked the doctor … ‘Who’s the healthiest?’” Trump said at the time, per the outlet, adding that the doctor answered: “Without question, it’s Donald Trump.”

Earlier this month, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt read a memo from current White House physician Sean Barbabella that addressed two MRI tests Trump underwent at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in October, amid ongoing questions about the president’s health.

Trump received abdominal and cardiovascular scans during that visit, and Barbabella said the results were “perfectly normal.” The physician added that the MRIs were part of Trump’s “comprehensive physical exam,” noting that men in the 79-year-old president’s age group “benefit from a thorough evaluation of cardiovascular and abdominal health,” and that “he remains in excellent overall health.”

In July, Trump was diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a condition that “causes blood to pool in your leg veins, leading to high pressure in those veins,” according to the Cleveland Clinic.

Trump is currently the oldest person elected president in the United States, and he is on track to surpass Biden as the oldest sitting president before his term ends.