White House: Trump to have physical exam early next year

President Trump will have a physical exam early next year at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center and the results will be released to the public, the White House announced Thursday.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders said the exam will take place in “the first part of next year” and will be “the full physical that most presidents go through.”

“Those records will be released by the doctor following that,” she said. 

{mosads}The announcement came one day after Trump slurred his speech during remarks about Israel, triggering an avalanche of speculation about his health. Sanders denied the slurring was the result of a medical problem.

“The president’s throat was dry, nothing more than that,” she told reporters.

Sanders called the questions about Trump’s health “frankly pretty ridiculous.”

U.S. presidents have routinely undergone annual medical exams by military doctors to prove that they are physically fit for duty. 

Former President Barack Obama’s first health report was made public on Feb. 28, 2010. 

Before Thursday, the White House had not yet confirmed whether Trump would follow in his predecessors’ footsteps. 

Trump has faced persistent questions about his health since launching his presidential campaign in 2015.

The 71-year-old former real estate mogul is the oldest person ever to be elected president and is a well-known consumer of fast food. 

Former campaign manager Corey Lewandowski claimed in his new book that Trump’s usual McDonald’s order consisted of “two Big Macs, two Filet-O-Fish and a chocolate malted.”

Trump made his most recent health records public by releasing a one-page report during an appearance on the “Dr. Oz” show in September 2016. 

The letter, written by his personal physician, Dr. Harold Bernstein, said Trump “is in excellent health, and has the stamina to endure — uninterrupted — the rigors of a punishing and unprecedented presidential campaign and, more importantly, the singularly demanding job of president of the United States.”

The New York-based physician’s report also claimed that “if elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.”

Bornstein’s report listed Trump as 6-foot-3-inches and 236 pounds, placing him in the overweight category of the body mass index but short of obese.

During the appearance on “Dr. Oz,” Trump admitted that he does not regularly exercise, aside from delivering campaign speeches. 

“When I’m speaking in front of 15 and 20,000 people and I’m up there using a lot of motion, I guess in it’s own way, it’s a pretty healthy act,” he said. “A lot of times these rooms are very hot, like saunas, and I guess that is a form of exercise.”

This story was updated at 3:02 p.m.