President Trump shot down rumors he died over Labor Day weekend by assuring reporters in the Oval Office they were speaking with a living person.
Trump addressed the issue on Tuesday during his first public event in a week, claiming he was unaware that speculation of his death had racked up more than 1.3 million social media engagements by Saturday morning.
“How did you find out over the weekend that you were dead? Did you see that?” Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked during the press conference.
“No,” Trump responded flatly, though he admitted to hearing there were concerns about his health.
“I knew they were saying, like: ‘Is he OK? How is he feeling? What’s wrong?’” Trump said, calling the chatter “fake news” and saying he “was very active over the weekend,” despite being largely absent from the public eye.
The president had no public events on his schedule Friday, Saturday, Sunday or Monday, but was spotted golfing in Virginia on Saturday and assured the nation he was alive by posting on Truth Social on Sunday.
In one of those posts, he wrote that he’s “NEVER FELT BETTER IN [HIS] LIFE.”
Trump wondered why macabre rumors didn’t follow his predecessor, 82-year-old Joe Biden, who famously held very few press conferences during his four years in office, then abandoned his reelection campaign after a presidential debate meltdown called his mental acuity into question.
“Biden wouldn’t do [press conferences] for months. You wouldn’t see him, and nobody ever said there was ever anything wrong with him. And we know he wasn’t in the greatest of shape,” Trump said Tuesday.
He wrapped things up by saying these “serious” sorts of rumors reflect poorly on “the media,” though he didn’t differentiate between social media and traditional news outlets, which did not report the president had died.
Rumors of the president’s demise lost considerable steam by Tuesday morning when it was reported he planned to hold a 2 p.m. press conference to announce the Defense Department will move the headquarters of the U.S. Space Command from Colorado to Alabama.
Trump’s health has been the topic of conversation before, particularly in regard to bruising on the back of his hand and swelling around his ankles.
AP Photo/Alex Brandon
The left foot and swollen of President Donald Trump are pictured as he sits with Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa in the Oval Office of the White House, Wednesday, July 16, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
The White House in July said the 79-year-old leader was being treated for chronic venous insufficiency, which means veins in the legs can’t properly carry blood back to the heart, causing it to pool in the lower legs.
The condition is fairly common among older adults and isn’t believed to be life-threatening, though speculation to the contrary caught fire on social media platforms like X.
With News Wire Services
