President Donald Trump veered off-topic during a White House roundtable on rural health care, launching into a story about an unnamed friend he repeatedly described as “very fat.”
About 10 minutes into the roughly hour-long event on Friday, Jan. 16, Trump, 79, told attendees he’d been talking with a wealthy acquaintance about weight-loss medications.
“A friend of mine who is a very smart guy, very, very rich, very powerful man actually but he’s very fat and he took the fat… I call it the fat drug,” Trump said. “I won’t give you which one.”
He then paused before adding, “It was Ozempic… I won’t tell you that.”
Trump claimed the man, who he said “can’t walk across the street,” was in London on “one of his many business trips,” and contrasted the cost of the medication overseas with what the same person pays in the United States.
According to Trump, his friend spends $1,300 for the drug in New York but only $87 in London. Trump said the gap was “too much to bear,” then turned the story into a punchline — including a jab at the friend’s results on the medication.
“After I told him that the drug does not work on him because I saw him recently and he’s actually fatter than ever, I said, ‘The drug is not working on you, you’re going to have to go to something else but it does work on a lot of people,’ ” Trump said.
He added that the friend replied, “Thanks, you make me feel good,” prompting Trump to respond, “Well, I gotta be truthful. Always tell the truth.”
The story was framed as part of Trump’s broader message on prescription drug pricing. He reiterated his push to bring U.S. prices down to match the lowest rate paid anywhere in the world.
“Whoever is paying the lowest, we match it,” he said.
In November 2025, the Trump administration announced the price of Ozempic would lower from $1,000 and $1,350 per month to $350 if bought through TrumpRx. Trump said people receiving Medicare and Medicaid would pay $245 a month, beginning in the middle of 2026. The lowest price, $149 per month, will apply to oral versions which are not yet available.
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“For years, politicians have talked about making health care affordable,” Trump said during a November press conference held to announce the price reduction of weight-loss drugs. “But my administration is actually doing it.”
That November event also drew widespread attention for an unexpected moment: a man standing behind the Resolute Desk fainted during the remarks.
The man appeared to start collapsing on a livestream before Trump’s head of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Dr. Mehmet Oz, rushed over and caught him.
After the press conference resumed, Trump referenced the incident, saying, “One of the representatives of one of the companies got a little light-headed and so they went down, and he’s fine.”
