Washington, May 1 (EFE).- Harold Bornstein, who was Donald Trump’s physician before the mogul became president, said Tuesday that people close to the president last year “raided” his office, seizing all Trump’s medical records, a move the White House characterized as “standard procedure.”
In an interview with NBC News, Bornstein said that Keith Schiller and another “large man” came to his Park Avenue office to take all the president’s original and photocopied medical records on Feb. 3, 2017.
At the time, Schiller, who had served as Trump’s bodyguard for many years, was director of Oval Office operations at the White House.
“They must have been here for 25 or 30 minutes. It created a lot of chaos,” said Bornstein, who said he felt “raped, frightened and sad” about the incident.
Bornstein, 70, was Trump’s personal physician for more than three decades and became famous during the 2016 presidential campaign when he said that, if his patient won the contest, he “unequivocally” would be the healthiest president in history, calling the mogul’s health “astonishingly excellent.”
When asked at her Tuesday press briefing about the matter, White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders downplayed the incident and denied that it was a “raid.”
“As is standard operating procedure for a new president, the White House medical unit took possession of the president’s medical records,” she said, adding “Those records were being transferred over to the White House medical unit as requested.”
However, Bornstein presented the incident as a revenge move by the White House because it came two days after he said in an interview with The New York Times that he had prescribed hair-growth, rosacea and high cholesterol medication to Trump for years.
According to Bornstein, he was trying to convince the White House that he should continue to be Trump’s physician, but after granting the interview he received a call from longtime Trump assistant Rhona Graff, who told him to “forget” about being the president’s doctor.
Bornstein said that he had decided to reveal this incident now because he had learned that Ronny Jackson, who had been the White House physician for the past three presidents, has left that post after being accused of drinking alcohol on the job and loosely prescribing medications.
“This is like a celebration for me,” said Bornstein.
Sanders confirmed on Tuesday that Jackson will no longer head the White House Medical Office.