CNN’s Sanjay Gupta roasted for stating Trump has heart disease after White House doctor gives clean bill of health
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}CNN Chief Medical Correspondent Sanjay Gupta was ridiculed across social media on Wednesday for declaring that President Trump has heart disease.
White House physician Ronny Jackson said on Tuesday that Trump was in "excellent health" after conducting the president’s physical exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center last week. Jackson answered a variety of questions from skeptical reporters during a press briefing and repeatedly stated that Trump was perfectly fine, with the exception of needing cholesterol medicine and being slightly overweight.
But on Wednesday morning Gupta, who did not examine Trump, took Jackson’s data and declared that Trump has heart disease, prompting instant ridicule from people on both sides of the political aisle.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“This is math. This is based on the numbers that Dr. Jackson provided,” Gupta said. “The president has heart disease.”
White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders reminded everyone during Wednesday’s press briefing that Jackson is the only doctor who has actually examined the president, calling him the “only credible source” when it comes to Trump’s health.
Gupta eventually followed up his on-air report by doubling down with an article on CNN’s website.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}“Like most men of his age, President Donald Trump has a common form of heart disease, relatively easy to address if he increases the dose of his cholesterol-lowering medication and makes necessary lifestyle changes,” he wrote.
HuffPost Editor in Chief Lydia Polgreen, whose site refused to cover Trump in the political section for the early stages of his campaign, wrote, “I’m not a doctor but this seems like a stretch?”
Townhall political editor Guy Benson said, ”The respected doctor who actually examined Trump says otherwise. This seems reckless and unethical,” while Free Beacon reporter Alex Griswold asked, “What else did former Hillary Clinton advisor Sanjay Gupta say?"
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another user wrote, “Sanjay Gupta makes a last minute submission for the Fake News Awards.”
Meanwhile, CNN senior media correspondent Brian Stelter defended Gutpa on Twitter, saying the diagnosis contained “nothing mysterious.”