Trump talks health on ‘Dr. Oz Show’

by Ben Kamisar - 09/15/16 1:37 PM ET

Television personality Mehmet Oz gave Donald Trump a clean bill of health during a highly touted interview that aired Thursday.

The friendly chat between the GOP presidential nominee and the TV doctor uncovered little news — many details of the interview had already either leaked or released by the campaign in the hours before the show.

{mosads}But Trump sought to kill two birds with one stone: Quieting discontent about his delay in releasing significant health records and controlling the news cycle with a high-profile appearance on a daytime show watched mostly by women.

Oz ran through a brief checklist of Trump’s medical and family history and reviewed a note from his doctor detailing recent physical exam results that were released Thursday morning.

That physical showed that Trump is overweight, according to body mass index, and takes medicine to control his cholesterol. But other than that, Trump’s doctor described him as exceptionally healthy — and Oz came away impressed.

“If a patient of mine had these records, I’d be really happy and I’d send them on their way,” Oz said.

“I must say, I would have shared this earlier, why didn’t you blast this out?” he asked Trump.

“I didn’t think it was necessary,” Trump said. “The public’s known me for a long time, they’ve never seen me in the hospital. The one thing is, if I’m in the hospital, it’s going to be out there big league.”

The health of Trump, 70, and Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, 68, has become a major issue in the race. The candidates’ average age makes this the oldest presidential matchup in American history.

Concerns only heightened after video emerged of Clinton stumbling on her way into a van after a Sept. 11 memorial on Sunday. Her campaign later disclosed she had been diagnosed with pneumonia, and Clinton has since taken a break from the campaign trail to recover.

The conversation focused only briefly on Trump’s personal medical results, mostly centering instead on Trump’s lifestyle.

“It’s a lot of work. When I’m up there speaking in front of 15,000, 25,000 people up there using a lot of motion, I guess in its own way its a really healthy act,” Trump said of running for president.

“I really enjoy doing it. A lot of times these rooms are really hot, like saunas. I guess that’s a form of exercise.”

Oz isn’t a stranger to the political scene, having donated largely to Republican candidates over his career. He also received significant criticism in 2014, when he was called to testify in front of Congress to answer for promoting “miracle” weight loss pills.

Tags Donald Trump Hillary Clinton