Trump's unsteady ramp walk raises new health questions
As US President Donald Trump turns 74 on Sunday, an incident a day earlier in which he appeared unsteady on his feet has revived questions about his health as he heads into a grueling re-election campaign.
Scrutiny of a president's health is always intense, and Trump has generally appeared vigorous for his age. Results of a routine physical released early this month showed he was overweight -- 244 pounds (110 kilograms) -- but with otherwise normal test results.
But his appearance Saturday at the US military academy in West Point, New York raised new questions about apparent signs of unsteadiness, balance problems and trouble enunciating certain words.
Since Trump has regularly mocked the health and acuity of his presumptive election opponent, Democrat Joe Biden -- who is three years his senior -- the question of physical fitness could weigh heavily in the campaign ahead.
After a widely circulated video on Saturday showed Trump walking tentatively and unsteadily down a long ramp after delivering a commencement speech at West Point, he took to Twitter to issue an explanation.
"The ramp that I descended after my West Point Commencement speech was very long & steep, had no handrail and, most importantly, was very slippery," Trump said.
"The last thing I was going to do is 'fall' for the Fake News to have fun with. Final ten feet I ran down to level ground. Momentum!"
Reporters at the scene said the weather was dry and the ramp not particularly steep.
But Trump also appeared to have trouble Saturday lifting a glass of water to his lips -- beginning the gesture with his right hand but then raising his left hand apparently to help.
And, not for the first time, he seemed to mispronounce a number of names of well-known Americans, including those of army generals Ulysses S. Grant and Douglas MacArthur.
His West Point performance was not the first time Trump's health has been questioned, particularly by his avowed political critics, whose speculation has run the gamut from early dementia to a minor stroke.
Treasury Secretary Mnuchin refuses to disclose recipients of taxpayer-funded coronavirus business loans
Building ramparts of secrecy around a $600 billion-plus coronavirus aid program for small businesses, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin moved from delay to denial in refusing to disclose the recipients of taxpayer-funded loans.
Mnuchin told Congress at a hearing last week that the names of loan recipients and the amounts are "proprietary information." Though he claimed the information is confidential, some lawmakers see the move as an attempt to dodge accountability for how the money is spent.
Businesses struggled to obtain loans in the early weeks of the program, and several hundred publicly traded companies received loans despite their likely ability to get the money from private financial sources. Some big corporations said they would return their loans.
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"Given the many problems with the program, it is imperative American taxpayers know if the money is going where Congress intended – to the truly small and unbanked small business," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., said Friday. "The administration's resistance to transparency is outrageous and only serves to raise further suspicions about how the funds are being distributed and who is actually benefiting."
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The Small Business Administration – an agency with about 3,200 employees and an annual budget shy of $1 billion – is shouldering the massive relief effort for U.S. small businesses and their employees left reeling by the economic punch of the pandemic. A signature piece of Congress' multitrillion-dollar coronavirus rescue, and touted by President Donald Trump, the unprecedented lending program is intended to help small employers stay afloat and preserve jobs in a cratering economy losing tens of millions of them.
AGAIN you know nothing and PREAN with your lack of what goes on in this country.
I know bikers who are affiliated and they are 100% AMERICANS and care about our history and will
put those trying to unseat it in their place.YES they skate the law as many corporations do too.I dont know if you are just that dumb or clouded because all you care about is removing trump..
At least try to have a bit of truth in your DEM gospel...
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