President Donald Trump claims he was told he could live to 200 years old — if he gave up his beloved junk food.
Trump, 79, spoke during a Friday event honoring the U.S. Naval Academy football team and made the comments while discussing questions about his health.
The president brought up his former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson — who is now a Republican congressman from Texas — and said the physician told him he was "by far" the healthiest of the last three American presidents.
"He took a lot of heat for this," he said of Jackson. "They said, 'Who is the healthiest of the three?' He said, 'President Donald J Trump by far. If he didn't eat junk food, he'd live to 200 years old.' And I love this guy."
That list includes former President Barack Obama, who regularly played basketball and golfed — a pastime he shares with Trump — and whose weight remained around 180 pounds during his presidency.
Trump's most recent publicly revealed weigh-in placed him at 225 pounds, and his primary activity is golfing. The president also has a well-documented love for McDonald's and even once tried to show how relatable he was to the common man by "working" a drive-thru at one of the restaurant's locations.
Despite his glowing medical reviews from Jackson, Trump's hand appeared bruised when he signed the executive order. Both of Trump's hands and his neck have appeared bruised in recent months. The White House has explained away his hand bruising as the result of numerous handshakes.
The soon-to-be 80-year-old president has faced questions about his health given his age. But Trump has insisted he is healthy, and released letters from doctors confirming it, despite some unhealthy habits.
Jackson began working with the White House Medical Unit in 2006 and served as a doctor for Obama between 2013 and 2018. During Trump's first term, the president nominated Jackson to run the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Trump's decision to elevate Jackson inadvertently dredged up past controversies surrounding the doctor. Jackson had been accused of drinking on the job, overprescribing opioids and creating a hostile work environment by almost two dozen current and former White House medical staffers.
Jackson eventually withdrew his nomination for the position but did not admit to any of the allegations made against him.
"Going into this process, I expected tough questions about how to best care for our veterans, but I did not expect to have to dignify baseless and anonymous attacks on my character and integrity," he said at the time.
Jackson has always given Trump glowing health reviews.
In 2018, he told reporters that Trump's cardiac health was "excellent" and insisted that the president had good genes.
“He has incredible genes, I just assume," Jackson said, according to CNN.
The doctor's constant praise is likely why Trump invoked him during the event on Friday. Trump was presenting the U.S. Naval Academy football team with the Commander-in-Chief Trophy and also used the occasion to sign an executive order making the second Saturday in December the official and exclusive day for the annual Army-Navy football game.
“Not Ohio State against Notre Dame. Not LSU against Alabama. Nobody is going to play,” he said during the event.
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