President Donald Trump on Monday left House Speaker Mike Johnson and others visibly shocked by revealing private medical information about a House Republican while television cameras broadcast the scene.
Trump was speaking during an impromptu press conference before a scheduled lunch with Kennedy Center board members when he began praising the way House Speaker Mike Johnson has managed to keep his majority together despite having only a two-vote margin since earlier this year.
After he asked Johnson about one GOP member who was “very ill,” Johnson replied that Florida Representative Neal Dunn had been suffering from “real health challenges” and a “pretty grim diagnosis” while still showing up to work and voting, calling him “a real champion and a patriot.”
Trump then interjected to ask about Dunn’s diagnosis before revealing, unprompted, that it had been “a terminal diagnosis.”
“He would be dead by June,” said Trump, prompting Johnson to jump back in, more than a bit surprised.
”Ok, that wasn’t public,” Johnson said.
Johnson added that Trump had connected with Dunn to offer condolences and later arranged for him to receive medical treatment from White House Medical Unit doctors and other military physicians at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.
“The man has a new lease on life. He acts like he’s 30 years younger, and he walked into the conference meeting, and we thought we’d seen a ghost, and I spoke with him over the weekend, and he’s encouraged and thankful, and he thanks the President for his leadership and intervention,” Johnson said.
Trump re-entered the conversation by recounting how Johnson had told him that Dunn had been “terminal” with a “really bad heart” and remarked how there was “nothing they could do” for the longtime Florida representative.
“I realized I have doctors in the White House … the White House, doctors are incredible and they’ve helped me with other people. They’re helping me with people right now, people that are very sick… like they’re miracle workers. And I said, I have to call them. And I called the two doctors, they’re both great. And they immediately went over to see the congressman, and he was on the operating table, like two hours later,” Trump said.
Earlier this year, Dunn said he would not seek re-election in Florida’s 2nd district. Last month, amid rumors that Dunn might resign early, his office told Politico that he would serve out the duration of his term.
House Republicans have only 218 seats, a virtual two-seat majority, ever since the death of Rep. Doug Lamalfa of California died and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia resigned her seat. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) remains a perpetual gadfly who frequently votes against House Republican leadership.
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