CNN’s Jake Tapper Calls BS On Trump Spox’s Bandage Spin: Something About His Health ‘They’re Not Telling Us’

CNN anchor Jake Tapper called BS on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s explanation for the bandages President Donald Trump wears on his hands, saying there’s “something going on with his health that they’re not telling us.”

Health concerns about Trump have only heightened since he was repeatedly photographed with serious bruising on his hand and swollen ankles, followed by a bout of caginess about his MRI.

When asked about the bandages on his hands, Leavitt told reporters this week that Trump “is literally constantly shaking hands” and takes aspirin daily.

On Thursday’s edition of CNN’s The Lead, Tapper and CNN contributors David Axelrod and Alyssa Farah Griffin cast doubt on the excuse and called on the White House to tell “the truth”:

TAPPER: The Press Secretary was also asked earlier today about the bandages we continue to see on President Trump’s hand. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEAVITT: The President is literally constantly shaking hands. The Oval Office is like Grand Central Terminal. He is meeting with more people than any of you even know about on a daily basis. He’s also on a daily aspirin regimen, which is something his physical examinations has said in the past as well, which can contribute to that bruising that we see.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

TAPPER: So, David, first of all, we haven’t seen bruising like this on the hands of other presidents who also presumably shake a lot of hands or senators.

AXELROD: Really more hand — more hands in this President.

TAPPER: Yes, well, and yes, I mean, and — and not to mention members of the House, members of the Senate. The White House gave the same explanation for bruising back in July. Obviously, he’s 79 years old. And there is something going on with his health that they’re not telling us, because otherwise, why did he have that MRI?

AXELROD: Yes. I mean, look, lack of transparency is a common theme throughout all of these discussions and certainly on this. I mean, a lot of extraordinary things have happened when the President of the United States has, you know, an MRI and can’t remember or name what part of the body the MRI was about.

There are — there are questions, there are issues here. And the question is whether the American people deserve to know they were raised relative to President Biden. They should be — they should be raised now because clearly something’s going on.

TAPPER: Yes. And unless the president Trump is a self-described germaphobe, he has said he doesn’t like shaking hands. Do you buy this explanation?

GRIFFIN: Listen, I know that the president does not like the dialogue around this, and I can’t imagine that he loves the — the spin from the podium today. Listen, these questions were always bound to happen. In the matchup of Biden versus Trump, we were either way going to have the oldest sitting president when he left office.

And these questions are going to continue to dog him. These questions that the public has about this MRI that he got. I think that there’s going to have to be a better answer. What happens with this, we’ve seen it before, is the rumors and the speculation must take on a life of their own if there’s not some sort of a clear medical answer.

But I think we’ve seen enough from the first Trump term and as far as we are in now that we’re not going to get a whole lot more information than what we’ve gotten so far.

AXELROD: Here’s a better answer. How about the truth? How about facts? That would be good.

TAPPER: Yes. And — and obviously, you know, Biden is — what happened with Biden is instructive.

Watch above via CNN’s The Lead.