President Trump was set to make an announcement at the White House Tuesday afternoon amid unfounded health rumors sparked by his staying almost entirely out of public view for a full week.
Trump, 79, planned to announce that the Defense Department will move the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.
The fairly routine announcement grabbed outsized attention because Trump has barely been seen in public since presiding over a cabinet meeting last Tuesday, August 26.
The usually attention-hungry commander-in-chief passed up the chance to deliver messages to the public during signings of executive orders late last week.
He made the somewhat unusual decision to remain in Washington, D.C. over Labor Day instead of spending the long holiday weekend at his golf resort in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Trump was briefly captured by photographers on Saturday as he went golfing in suburban Virginia, but did not speak to reporters.
The low profile has sparked widespread but unfounded rumors that Trump was ill or had undergone some sort of medical procedure.
The flurry of internet speculation was fanned by an interview with Vice President JD Vance with USA Today in which he said that he was prepared to take the presidency in case, “God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy.”
Trump in July was diagnosed with a treatable medical condition known as chronic venous insufficiency after undergoing an unscheduled examination prompted by swelling in his ankles.
Doctors deemed Trump was in “excellent health” and there was no sign of more serious health problems like congestive heart failure or blood clots, the White House said at the time.
Doctors also examined bruising on the back of Trump’s hands, which they attributed to regular aspirin usage that may have been worsened by frequent hand shaking.
“This is a well-known and benign side effect of aspirin therapy,” White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said.
Photographers have captured images of what appeared to be crude makeup covering parts of Trump’s hands several times in recent weeks.
