Doctor who declared Trump 'healthiest' president ever dies

[NEW YORK] President Donald Trump's former personal doctor - who claimed Trump had dictated a letter insisting he would be the "healthiest" president ever - has died, reports said Thursday.

Harold Bornstein passed away last Friday at the age of 73, according to the New York Times. No cause of death was given.

The long-haired gastroenterologist was Mr Trump's physician from 1980 to 2017.

Bornstein gained public attention in December 2015 when Mr Trump's presidential campaign team released a letter from him gushing about Mr Trump's apparently excellent health.

The glowing missive said that "if elected, Mr Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency." The New York doctor told CNN in 2018 that the president had "dictated the whole letter" himself.

"I didn't write that letter. I just made it up as I went along," Bornstein said.

The eccentric Manhattan doctor had previously said he wrote the note hastily as Mr Trump's car waited.

Bornstein had hoped to follow Trump to the White House but his hopes were dashed after he told the New York Times that Mr Trump was taking a drug to promote hair growth.

Bornstein told NBC News that after the Times article appeared a bodyguard visited his Park Avenue office and confiscated the president's medical records.

"They must have been here for 25 or 30 minutes. It created a lot of chaos," Bornstein said, adding that the February 2017 incident made him feel "raped, frightened and sad."

AFP