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Trump denies having stroke, says he hopes ‘things work out’ if he has heart attack

  • Adding to the confusion surrounding his health, the 74-year-old US president denied having a stroke last year – despite no one claiming he had
  • A new book excerpt does shed some light on a mystery hospital visit Trump made in November, but does not say he had a stroke

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US President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign event at Arnold Palmer Regional Airport in Latrobe, Pennsylvania on Thursday. Photo: AFP
US President Donald Trump repeatedly denied during a raucous campaign rally in Pennsylvania that he suffered a stroke last year – even though it has not been reported by any major news outlets that he ever did.
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Adding to the confusion surrounding the 74-year-old president’s health, Trump also told the largely mask-free crowd in the Pittsburgh suburb of Latrobe on Thursday night that he hopes he’ll survive if he were to ever suffer a heart attack.

“It could happen someday, OK? When it does, I hope things work out,” Trump said to roars from the audience members, who were packed close together on an airport runway.

The president’s health has come into renewed focus since an excerpt from an upcoming book revealed that Vice-President Mike Pence was told to be on standby to take over the powers of the presidency in case Trump had to undergo anaesthesia during his mysterious trip to Walter Reed Medical Centre in Maryland in November.

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Trump shakes hands with Dr Ronny Jackson at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2018. Photo: AFP
Trump shakes hands with Dr Ronny Jackson at the Walter Reed National Military Medical Centre in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2018. Photo: AFP

The book, by New York Times reporter Michael Schmidt, does not say that Trump had suffered a stroke ahead of the hospital visit, the reason for which has never been explained by the White House.

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