White House Labels Daily Beast Reporter 'Mentally Ill' After Questioning Trump's Bruised Hand — Media Scrutiny Intensifies

Reporters at the Daily Beast say they were met with an unusually hostile response from the White House after a reporter asked a routine question about a visible bruise on President Donald Trump’s hand. The exchange — which included an anonymous email calling the reporter "mentally ill" — has renewed scrutiny of the president’s health and the administration’s relations with the press.

What Happened

At the Davos summit in Switzerland, a large, dark bruise was visible on the president’s left hand as he introduced the reduced roster for his new "Board of Peace." By the time Mr. Trump boarded his flight home, Daily Beast staff say the blemish appeared to be covered with heavy makeup.

Daily Beast reporter Catherine Bouris followed standard practice and emailed the White House press account seeking comment on whether the makeup had been applied to conceal the bruise. The reply, sent anonymously from the White House’s shared press inbox, read:

"This is the third or fourth story the Daily Beast has written on this -- are you mentally ill? Is the President so successful that you can’t find anything else to write about?"

An additional response attributed to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the bruise resulted from Mr. Trump hitting his hand on the corner of a signing table at the event. A White House official also suggested the president’s daily aspirin regimen makes him more prone to bruising. In an interview with The Wall Street Journal, Mr. Trump said he takes 325 mg of aspirin daily — higher than the 81 mg dose commonly recommended for everyday cardiovascular prevention.

Broader Concerns And Media Reaction

The Daily Beast has spent nearly a year documenting what it describes as signs of both physical and cognitive decline, including swollen ankles and slurred or confused speech. This week, several other prominent outlets ran pieces raising similar concerns. In The New York Times, Thomas L. Friedman asked whether the country might be "ruled by a mad king," while The Wall Street Journal and The New Yorker ran their own analyses of possible cognitive issues.

Some medical observers have speculated about more serious causes. Professor Bruce Davidson of Washington State University’s Elson S. Floyd College of Medicine has suggested the possibility of a prior stroke, pointing to symptoms such as apparent sleepiness in meetings, shuffling gait, the frequent cradling of one hand with the other, and occasional garbled speech. The White House has insisted the president is in "excellent overall health."

Press Attacks And Anonymous Tactics

Beyond the anonymous email, the White House response included public attacks on Daily Beast staff. Steven Cheung, the White House director of communications, posted a screenshot of editor Opheli Garcia-Lawler’s past political donations to social media and made crude comments. The anonymous press account forwarded a quote attributed to Karoline Leavitt labeling the outlet "left-wing propagandists" and dismissing its critics as "deranged leftists." The same shared inbox has, according to the Daily Beast, previously issued anonymous denials in unrelated personal matters that were later contradicted by public records.

Why This Matters

Donald Trump was 78 years and seven months old at his January inauguration — the oldest person ever sworn in as U.S. president — and public interest in the fitness of a near-80 leader is understandable. Visible bruising, persistent swelling of the lower legs, and episodes that raise questions about cognition are matters of legitimate public concern, particularly when they are accompanied by evasive or hostile responses to journalistic inquiries.

The Daily Beast says it will continue to press for transparency and report what its journalists observe, and the outlet framed the White House’s anonymous, derisive reply as part of a broader pattern of denigration toward the press.

Note: This article reports on exchanges between the Daily Beast and White House staff and on public coverage and commentary from other outlets and medical observers. All quotes and characterizations are attributed to the sources named in the original reports.