After a whiplash-inducing morning of mixed messages, Donald Trump on Wednesday opened a small window into some of the results from his most recent physical examination, revealing that he is overweight and takes a statin, a type of drug that lowers cholesterol.
Trump gave the quick synopsis on Dr. Mehmet Oz's television show after the Republican presidential nominee's aides had said that he would, then that he would not, broach the topic with the doctor on the show.
A news release from "The Dr. Oz Show" said that Oz, "as all physicians do when seeing a patient for the first time," took the candidate "through a full review of systems including the following: nervous system; head and neck; hormone levels; cardiovascular health and related medications; respiratory health; gastrointestinal health; bladder or prostate health; dermatological health; history of cancer."
The release also said they reviewed "family medical history — occurrence of Alzheimer's or dementia, heart disease, cancer in relatives."
[Trump seizes on Clinton's absence to press his candidacy to voters]
A Trump aide said that Oz, who focuses heavily on obesity, declared Trump "slightly overweight" with a weight of 236 pounds (although earlier reports put his weight at 267 pounds.)
Earlier this year, Trump's doctor, Harold Bornstein, wrote an unusual, brief note that he later acknowledged to NBC was partly dictated by the candidate. In that note, Bornstein described Trump as in impeccable health, and also said that he had lost 15 pounds over the previous 12 months.
Democrats have over the last few days seized on Trump's weight as an issue, with Harry Reid, the Senate minority leader, taking note of it on Tuesday, and David Plouffe, a former senior adviser to President Barack Obama, posting on Twitter that the Republican nominee would rival William Howard Taft in terms of portliness.
Trump takes a statin, which is normally used to control cholesterol, and which has kept his blood pressure low. There was no evidence of any previous heart attacks and he had a normal echocardiogram, according to the report.
Trump's father had Alzheimer's disease. Trump's daughter Ivanka joined him for a part of the show, which was taped Wednesday in Manhattan and is to be broadcast Thursday.
Trump, 70, discussed the checkup results as the campaign of his Democratic rival, Hillary Clinton, was expected to release some details of her own latest examinations after her recent bout of pneumonia.
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Over many months, Trump has sought to raise questions about the health of Clinton, 68, and his supporters have asserted that she is hiding something about her health (her aides have denied this). But Trump has answered almost no questions about his own health over the last 15 months of his campaign, except for issuing a highly unusual doctor's note.
So the appearance on Oz's show, announced Friday, had been anticipated as a potential breakthrough, as Trump's aides had said that over the next few days he would release results from the physical examination, which was conducted last week.
Earlier on Wednesday, Trump's campaign manager, Kellyanne Conway, told Fox News that she did not think the candidate should release medical information on a television show.
A cardiothoracic surgeon by training, Oz has a large female viewership, one reason the Trump campaign chose him as an outlet. Oz said he had also invited Clinton to appear on the show.
Oz, known mostly because of Oprah Winfrey, who knighted him "America's Doctor," has a large and devoted fan base. He has worked at some of New York's top hospitals and has generally received praise for focusing on lifestyle choices and for his ability to explain medical concepts in an easy-to-grasp manner.
He has also been criticized for questionable assertions over the course of his television career, and sometimes speaks in the same type of hyperbole as Trump.