Harris publishes health records, campaign calls out Trump

Democratic White House candidate Kamala Harris is in "excellent health" and fit for the presidency, according to a medical report published by the White House, as her campaign challenged rival Donald Trump to publish his own health records.

"Vice President Harris remains in excellent health," her physician Joshua Simmons said in the report, adding that she "possesses the physical and mental resiliency required to successfully execute the duties of the presidency."

A few hours later, Harris spokesman Ian Sams challenged Donald Trump directly to release his medical records, asking, "What's he hiding?"

But as Kamala Harris's team ramped up pressure for details on the physical health and mental acuity of the 78-year-old Donald Trump, the former president's campaign pushed back hard.

It issued a statement saying he was also "in perfect and excellent health to be Commander in Chief" and charged that Ms Harris lacked his strength to lead the country.

A journalist asked Mr Trump in August whether he would release his medical records and he replied, "Oh sure, I would do that very gladly, sure."

He has not released any detailed medical records since then.

Meanwhile, Kamala Harris's most recent physical exam, conducted in April, was "unremarkable," Mr Simmons said.

In a detailed report, Mr Simmons noted that Ms Harris suffers from seasonal allergies and hives, which are managed by non-prescription as well as prescription medications.

Ms Harris is also slightly nearsighted and wears contact lenses, the report said.

Republican Donald Trump became the oldest presidential nominee in US history after 81-year-old President Joe Biden withdrew from the White House race in July.

Kamala Harris is 59.

Joe Biden passed the torch to Kamala Harris after a disastrous debate against Donald Trump raised concerns in the Democratic Party about his own mental sharpness.

Election battle on a knife-edge

But Mr Trump's apparent vitality means that his age has not so far weighed against his chances in the polls, in a knife-edge battle with Ms Harris in the 5 November presidential election.

Kamala Harris's campaign drew attention to a recent series of articles in the New York Times that raised concerns about the fact that Donald Trump had failed to disclose basic information about his health.

The newspaper also published an analysis of Mr Trump's language showing that his speeches are increasingly long, "confused" and include vulgarities, a trend seen by experts as a possible sign of cognitive decline.

Mr Trump has continued to insist he is fit and today his campaign republished statements from his former White House doctor, Ronny Jackson, that were released following the July assassination attempt on Mr Trump in which a bullet grazed his right ear.

In the statement dated 26 July, Mr Jackson, who is now a Republican congressman from Texas, said Mr Trump was doing "extremely well" and "rapidly recovering" from the wound.

Mr Trump's campaign also re-upped a note from another doctor who examined Mr Trump in September 2023.

In the note, Bruce Aronwald declared him to be in "excellent" health but provided few details and did not say what tests Mr Trump had undergone as part of the physical.

The campaign said Donald Trump had maintained "an extremely busy and active campaign schedule unlike any other in political history," and asserted that Ms Harris's campaign schedule showed her to be "wholly unqualified to be President of the United States."

Mr Trump's personal and White House doctors have at times made seemingly exaggerated claims about his health while providing few details.

In 2015, as Mr Trump was running for the presidency, his doctor Harold Bernstein declared that Mr Trump would be "the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency."

Mr Jackson said in 2018 that with a better diet Donald Trump could live to be 200.

If Donald Trump wins the election in November, he would be 82 at the end of his second term.