President Donald Trump's personal physician for more than 35 years, Harold Bornstein, MD, said his office was "raided" by a then-White House aide, a top Trump Organization lawyer and a third man who showed up without notice and took the president's medical records in February 2017, according to NBC News.
Dr. Bornstein describes the incident as a "raid" that left him feeling "raped, frightened and sad." Nearly two days after The New York Times published a story that quoted Dr. Bornstein saying he prescribed the president a hair growth medication for years, President Trump's longtime bodyguard Keith Schiller — who was serving as director of Oval Office operations — and another "large man" came to his office to collect the president's medical records.
There was no HIPAA release form — in violation of HIPAA — but a person familiar with the matter told NBC News then-White House physician Ronny Jackson, MD, wrote Dr. Bornstein a letter.
"If Ronny Jackson was the treating doctor, and he was asking for his patient's paperwork, a doctor is obligated to give it to him to ensure continuity of care," said NBC News Medical Correspondent John Torres, MD. "But it has to be given in a secure fashion. Nobody who doesn't have HIPAA clearance can see the patient records."
The men took President Trump's original and only copy of his charts and also ordered Dr. Bornstein to take down a photo hanging on his office wall of him and the president.
President Trump stopped seeing Dr. Bornstein after the NYT story exposed that he takes Propecia, a medication for enlarged prostates often prescribed for hair growth in men. In the NYT story, Dr. Bornstein also explained he told Rhona Graff, President Trump's longstanding executive assistant, "You know, I should be the White House physician." Ms. Graff called him the day after the story was published and told him to "forget about it."
When NBC News asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders about the taking of the records, she said it was "standard operating procedure for a new president" and Dr. Bornstein's characterization of the matter as a "raid" was inaccurate. "Those records were being transferred over to the White House Medical Unit, as requested," she said.
During President Trump's campaign, Dr. Bornstein wrote the infamous letter that deemed President Trump's health was "astonishingly excellent" and he would "unequivocally" be the healthiest president in history, NBC News reports. However, nearly two years later, Dr. Bornstein told CNNPresident Trump told him what to put in that glowing review of his health.
"He dictated that whole letter. I didn't write that letter," Dr. Bornstein told CNN. "I just made it up as I went along."
Note: This story was updated May 2, 2018, at 7:56 a.m. to include information for CNN's interview with Dr. Bornstein.
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