“What is he hiding?”: Kamala Harris’ campaign team on Saturday accused Donald Trump of lack of transparency about his health after the publication of the vice-president’s medical report to highlight their almost 20 years of age difference.
A medical report, published in great detail on Saturday by the White House, concludes that the Democratic candidate for the November 5 election has at 59 years of age “the physical and mental resistance necessary to fulfill the duties of the presidency” of the United States and is “in excellent health”.
Kamala Harris hopes with this publication to fuel a debate on the faculties of her 78-year-old Republican rival.
Donald Trump’s campaign team was quick to react by assuring in a press release that the former president’s form had nothing to envy of that of Kamala Harris, quite the contrary.
For Steven Cheung, communications director for Donald Trump’s campaign, the Democrat has a “much lighter” schedule than that of the Republican, because, he says, she does not have “the stamina of President Trump.”
The spokesperson argues that the Republican candidate has already voluntarily published several doctors’ reports which “all conclude that Donald Trump is in perfect and excellent health.”
Refusal to debate
Steven Cheung refers in particular to a letter from Donald Trump’s personal doctor in which normal physical examination results and “exceptional” cognitive test results are mentioned. But these exams already date back to September 2023.
And the Harris camp redoubled its attacks.
| © AFP Donald Trump during a meeting in Reno, Nevada (western United States), October 11, 2024 |
“On August 20, Donald Trump declared that he would ‘gladly’ publish his medical reports. He did not do so,” Ian Sams, a spokesperson for the Democrat’s campaign, declared on X.
“What is he hiding?” he asked, highlighting the former president’s refusal to debate Kamala Harris again after their televised battle in September.
Questions about Joe Biden’s age, toughness and mental acuity dominated his campaign, until the 81-year-old Democratic president threw in the towel in July after a disastrous debate against his Republican predecessor (2017 -2021).
The issue has since rarely been discussed in the media and has had no notable influence on the polls, which are still close, despite the large age difference between the two candidates and Donald Trump’s ever more pronounced tendency to digressions. and rambling speeches.
The vice-president would therefore like to bring the subject up to date, to her advantage.
“Confused” speech
His campaign team carefully read recent articles in the New York Times.
One points out that the billionaire, already widely criticized by his adversaries for not having been transparent about his health when he was president, has not published a recent medical report.
The other article in the American daily analyzes his recent speeches, concluding that they are ever more “long”, “confused”, “vulgar” and “obsessed with the past”.
| © AFP Joe Biden and Donald Trump during a ceremony commemorating the September 11 attacks, in New York, September 11, 2024 |
The former president, with an undeniable physical presence, still maintains a very sustained pace of travel and meetings, and does not show fatigue comparable to that which often marks the approach, features and speech of Joe Biden.
Donald Trump will be in Coachella, California, on Saturday evening for a meeting before another the next day in Arizona, a key state in the Southwest.
Kamala Harris will be on the other side of the country on Sunday with a rally in North Carolina, a key state on the East Coast which has not voted Democratic in the presidential election since Barack Obama in 2008.
According to polls, the age of candidates is not an important subject for a large part of voters.
A Gallup opinion poll published on October 10 indicates that 41% of voters consider Donald Trump too old to be president, barely 4 points more than in June, before Kamala Harris entered the running.
