Donald Trump visits Walter Reed for a 'semi-annual physical' despite annual examination in April

US President Donald Trump is undergoing what he has described as a “semiannual physical” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center on Friday.

The visit comes as Trump is preparing to travel to West Asia on the heels of a ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war he helped broker. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt described it as a “routine yearly checkup,” although Trump had his annual physical in April.

The White House has not explained why Trump, who took a helicopter ride from the White House to Walter Reed on Friday morning, had to get a yearly checkup six months after his annual exam. But in an exchange with reporters Thursday, the Republican president said it was a “semiannual physical.”

“I’m meeting with the troops, and I’m also going to do a, sort of, semiannual physical, which I do,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office. “I think I’m in great shape, but I’ll let you know,” he was quoted by the Associated Press as saying.

The president is scheduled to return to the White House after his visit to Walter Reed, which is located in Bethesda, Maryland.

Trump's April physical found that he was “fully fit” to serve as commander in chief, AP reported. The three-page summary of the exam done by his doctor, Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, said he had lost 20 pounds (9 kilograms) since a medical exam in June 2020 and said he has an “active lifestyle” that “continues to contribute significantly” to the well-being of the president, who's 79.

In July, the White House had announced that Trump had had a medical checkup after noticing “mild swelling” in his lower legs and was found to have a condition common in older adults that causes blood to pool in their veins. Tests by the White House medical unit showed that Trump has chronic venous insufficiency, which occurs when little valves inside the veins that normally help move blood against gravity gradually lose the ability to work properly.

At the April physical, Trump also passed a short screening test to assess different brain functions.