--- title: Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Seditious’ description: The President posted that he recently “aced” a cognitive exam and reports that demean him are “perhaps even treasonous.” canonical: https://time.com/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/ author: Chad de Guzman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2025-12-10T10:00:00.000Z article:modified_time: 2025-12-10T14:15:33.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Seditious’ og:description: The President posted that he recently “aced” a cognitive exam and reports that demean him are “perhaps even treasonous.” og:url: https://time.com/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43094ffdc6220876/6998cc3be2d64b78e9c5febd/nyt.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: The New York Times Building, building exterior detail, 620 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Seditious’ twitter:description: The President posted that he recently “aced” a cognitive exam and reports that demean him are “perhaps even treasonous.” twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43094ffdc6220876/6998cc3be2d64b78e9c5febd/nyt.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Treasonous’ > 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 [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Updated: Dec 10, 2025 2:15 PM UTCPublished: Dec 10, 2025 10:00 AM UTC  The New York Times building in Manhattan, N.Y. The New York Times building in Manhattan, N.Y. Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group/Getty Images  by [Chad de Guzman](https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/)  ## Chad de Guzman Reporter Updated: Dec 10, 2025 2:15 PM UTCPublished: Dec 10, 2025 10:00 AM UTC Donald Trump will be the oldest U.S. President in history by the time he leaves office if he serves out his full second term, and while he nicknamed his predecessor Joe Biden as “Sleepy” and [amplified](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/us/politics/trump-age-health.html) questions about his declining fitness for office, Trump now says that reports about [his own aging](https://time.com/7314050/trump-health-speech-takeaways/) are “seditious, perhaps even treasonous.” “After all of the work I have done with Medical Exams, Cognitive Exams, and everything else, I actually believe it’s seditious, perhaps even treasonous, for The New York Times, and others, to consistently do FAKE reports in order to libel and demean ‘THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES,’” Trump said in a nearly 500-word post on [Truth Social](https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/115692843128539904) late Tuesday. Trump’s swipe at the _Times_ comes after it [reported last month](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/25/us/politics/trump-age-health.html) that the President has apparently cut back on domestic travel and public appearances. The report also mentioned Trump’s apparent dozing off during an event at the White House (and the _Times_ [reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/us/politics/trump-sleep-cabinet-meeting.html) earlier this month that he appeared to fall asleep again during a Cabinet meeting). After the initial _Times_ report was published, Trump [attacked](https://time.com/7337058/trump-female-journalist-attacks-new-york-times-katie-rogers/) one of the reporters, Katie Rogers, calling her “ugly” on Truth Social. Trump’s Dec. 9 Truth Social post comes after he’s undergone [multiple health screenings](https://time.com/7324644/trump-walter-reed-routine-yearly-check-up-second-health-concerns/), including recently an [MRI that the White House described as preventive](https://time.com/7337936/trump-mri-results-health-white-house/). “I go out of my way to do long, thorough, and very boring Medical Examinations at the Great Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, seen and supervised by top doctors, all of whom have given me PERFECT Marks — Some have even said they have never seen such Strong Results,” Trump said. “I do these Tests because I owe it to our Country.” The President also revealed that he “recently” took and “aced” a cognitive exam. The White House did not immediately respond to TIME’s request for details. “Despite all of this, the time and work involved, The New York Times, and some others, like to pretend that I am ‘slowing up,’ am maybe not as sharp as I once was, or am in poor physical health, knowing that it is not true, and knowing that I work very hard, probably harder than I have ever worked before,” he said. “I will know when I am ‘slowing up,’ but it’s not now!” Trump then said that the _Times_ and media organizations were previously “forced to apologize on much of what they wrote” about his election results. (Trump is [suing](https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/17/business/media/trump-lawsuit-new-york-times.html) the _Times_ and three of its reporters for allegedly defaming him with their reporting during his 2024 campaign; a spokesperson for the newspaper [said](https://www.nytco.com/press/the-new-york-times-responds-to-lawsuit-filed-by-president-donald-trump/) the case “has no merit.”) “The best thing that could happen to this Country would be if The New York Times would cease publication because they are a horrible, biased, and untruthful ‘source’ of information,” Trump added in his post. In a statement to TIME, a spokesperson for the _Times_ said, “Americans deserve in-depth reporting and regular updates about the health of the leaders they elect. Mr. Trump welcomed our reporting on the age and fitness of his predecessors; we're applying the same journalistic scrutiny to his vitality.” The spokesperson also defended the _Times’_ reporting, saying that it was “heavily sourced” and was based on interviews with people close to the President and with medical experts. “We won’t be deterred by false and inflammatory language that distorts the role of a free press," the spokesperson added. It’s not the first time Trump has suggested the _Times_ was acting treasonously. In 2018, the President [used the same term](https://time.com/5389795/donald-trump-new-york-times-op-ed-virtually-treason/) after the paper published an anonymous op-ed by an official who claimed to be part of an anti-Trump “resistance” movement in the Administration. Trump earlier this year directed an investigation into [Miles Taylor](https://time.com/7290536/miles-taylor-president-trump-treason/), who had identified himself as the author. Trump’s beef with the _Times_ is just one of his many [battles with media organizations](https://time.com/7332902/bbc-controversy-trump-jan-6-documentary-panorama-media-lawsuits-explainer/). He [celebrated the suspension](https://time.com/7318177/jimmy-kimmel-live-preempt-indefinitely-abc-nexstar-fcc-kirk-trump/) of Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night show in September (which ABC has since reversed), filed lawsuits against networks like [ABC](https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cgrw57q4y9do) and [CBS](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/paramount-trump-60-minutes-lawsuit-settlement/), [slashed funding for](https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/05/ending-taxpayer-subsidization-of-biased-media/) public broadcasting networks, and sued [the _Wall Street Journal_](https://time.com/7303381/trump-epstein-documents-wsj-letter/) over its coverage of his ties to the late convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. His Administration has also accused political rivals, including [Democratic lawmakers](https://time.com/7336690/mark-kelly-court-martial-seditious-six-democrats-republicans-don-bacon/) and [former President Barack Obama](https://time.com/7304820/trump-treason-obama-response-distraction-epstein-guilty-president-prosecution/), of sedition and treason. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/"},"headline":"Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Treasonous’","datePublished":"2025-12-10T10:00:00.000Z","dateModified":"2025-12-10T14:15:33.000Z","description":"The President posted that he recently “aced” a cognitive exam and reports that demean him are “perhaps even treasonous.”","url":"https://time.com/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/","keywords":["Donald Trump","overnight","News Desk"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43094ffdc6220876/6998cc3be2d64b78e9c5febd/nyt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Chad de Guzman","jobTitle":"Reporter","url":"https://time.com/author/chad-de-guzman/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt43094ffdc6220876/6998cc3be2d64b78e9c5febd/nyt.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The New York Times Building, building exterior detail, 620 Eighth Avenue, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA","caption":"The New York Times Building, in Manhattan, New York.","creditText":"Plexi Images/GHI/UCG/Universal Images Group/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/7339756/trump-age-health-cognitive-test-new-york-times-treasonous-sedition/","name":"Trump Calls Reports on His Health ‘Treasonous’"}}]}] ```