--- title: Donald Trump Dictated 2015 Letter About Health, Doctor Says description: President Donald Trump's former personal doctor, Harold Bornstein, now says he didn't write the infamous 2015 letter about Trump's health. canonical: https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-05-02T12:29:47.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T20:09:10.587Z article:section: Politics og:title: Doctor Says Trump Dictated 2015 Health Letter og:description: It said Trump would be 'the healthiest individual ever elected' og:url: https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93351ff9a2d0b677/69892f56db2987fd6925f8c8/harold-bornstein.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2499 og:image:height: 1406 og:image:alt: Trump Doctor Harold Bornstein og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Doctor Says Trump Dictated 2015 Health Letter twitter:description: It said Trump would be 'the healthiest individual ever elected' twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93351ff9a2d0b677/69892f56db2987fd6925f8c8/harold-bornstein.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump's Former Doctor Says Trump Dictated Letter That Claimed He'd Be 'Healthiest Individual Ever Elected' > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 2, 2018 12:29 PM UTC  Dr. Harold Bornstein, arrives at his office on December 15, 2015. Dr. Harold Bornstein, arrives at his office on December 15, 2015. New York Daily News Archive—NY Daily News via Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 2, 2018 12:29 PM UTC President Donald Trump’s former personal doctor, Dr. Harold Bornstein, now claims he didn’t write [the infamous 2015 letter](http://time.com/4148111/donald-trump-health-report/) that promised Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” “He dictated that whole letter. I didn’t write that letter,” [Bornstein told CNN](https://www.cnn.com/2018/05/01/politics/harold-bornstein-trump-letter/index.html) on Tuesday. “I just made it up as I went along.” Bornstein’s admission comes shortly after he [told NBC News](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-doc-says-trump-bodyguard-lawyer-raided-his-office-took-n870351) that Trump’s bodyguard and another man appeared without warning at his office last February and [seized the president’s medical records](http://time.com/5261596/donald-trump-medical-files-raid-doctor-harold-bornstein/). White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said at a press briefing Tuesday that it was “standard operating procedure” for a new president to take control of his medical records. Bornstein has in the past stood by the effusive 2015 letter — which called Trump’s blood pressure “astonishingly excellent” and praised his “physical strength and stamina” — though he did say in 2016 that he jotted it down [in just five minutes](http://time.com/4469201/donald-trump-doctor-health-letter/). In his latest interview with CNN, however, he said he merely copied down Trump’s dictation and told him “what he couldn’t put in there.” “That’s black humor, that letter. That’s my sense of humor,” Bornstein said. “It’s like the movie _Fargo_: It takes the truth and moves it in a different direction.” Neither the White House nor Trump have commented on Bornstein’s latest allegations about the 2015 letter. Bornstein’s return to the public eye comes in the midst of a scandal involving Trump’s other doctor, White House physician Ronny Jackson, who withdrew his bid to lead the U.S. Department of Veteran’s Affairs following allegations of misconduct on the job. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/"},"headline":"Donald Trump's Former Doctor Says Trump Dictated Letter That Claimed He'd Be 'Healthiest Individual Ever Elected'","datePublished":"2018-05-02T12:29:47.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T20:09:10.587Z","description":"\"He dictated that whole letter\"","url":"https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/","keywords":["Donald Trump","White House","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93351ff9a2d0b677/69892f56db2987fd6925f8c8/harold-bornstein.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jamie Ducharme","jobTitle":"Ducharme is a contributor to TIME.","url":"https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt93351ff9a2d0b677/69892f56db2987fd6925f8c8/harold-bornstein.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Trump Doctor Harold Bornstein","caption":"Trump Doctor Harold Bornstein","creditText":"New York Daily News Archive—NY Daily News via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/donald-trump/","name":"Donald Trump"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5262611/harold-bornstein-donald-trump-doctor-letter/","name":"Donald Trump's Former Doctor Says Trump Dictated Letter That Claimed He'd Be 'Healthiest Individual Ever Elected'"}}]}] ```