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Walter Reed Hospital Had No Idea That Trump Was Coming For a ‘Routine Physical’

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On Saturday Donald Trump made a trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, as White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham put it, to “begin portions of his routine annual physical exam.”

But there are indications the trip wasn’t as routine as the White House would have the public believe.

Let me be perfectly clear, there’s no hard evidence that Trump’s trip to the hospital was anything more more than a 73-year-old man being proactive about his health. But the White House’s complete lack of credibility on issues from crowd size to foreign affairs makes it disconcertingly easy to disbelieve what officials say.

While there would likely be fewer questions surrounding Trump’s health if the White House hadn’t long established a reputation for lying about everything, there are a number of indicators that something out of the norm went down on Saturday afternoon.

For one, in a break from precedent, Trump’s trip to the hospital wasn’t acknowledged ahead of time on any White House schedule. Secondly and similarly unusual, CNN reported that medical staff at Walter Reed weren’t notified of Trump’s visit in advance. White House pool reporters said they were told Trump’s movements on Saturday “were strictly unreportable” until he arrived at the hospital at 2:47 pm.

Adding to suspicions, on Sunday, NBC’s Kelly O’Donnell posted a video of Trump being hustled into an SUV on his way to Walter Reed by a White House physician — a visual seemingly belying the notion that everything was fine and normal.

Adding to the mystery, Trump has not been seen by a White House pool reporter since leaving the hospital, and he’s not expected to make an appearance in public on Monday either.

After his most recent physical in February, physician to the president Sean Conley announced that Trump is in “very good health overall,” despite having health issues including clinical obesity and high cholesterol. We have no good reason to believe things have changed in the nine months since. But the unusual circumstances surrounding Trump’s trip to Walter Reed, combined with the White House’s broader crisis of credibility, have left people wondering.

Lots are people are wondering why ho one has seen Trump:

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