Trump would be the oldest person to become president. He's not sharing health details

WASHINGTON (AP) — If he wins next month's election, Donald Trump would be the oldest person in U.S. history to be elected president. Yet the 78-year-old Republican nominee refuses to disclose new details about his physical or mental well-being, breaking decades of precedent.

There have been limited snapshots of Trump's health over the last year. After he survived an attempted assassination in July, Texas Rep. Ronny Jackson, a staunch supporter who served as his White House physician, wrote a memo describing a gunshot wound to Trump's right ear. And last November, Trump's personal physician, Dr. Bruce Aronwald, wrote a letter describing him as being in “excellent” health with “exceptional” cognitive exams. He noted that “cardiovascular studies are all normal and cancer screening tests” were negative. Trump had also “reduced his weight.”

But those communications didn't address more fundamental questions about Trump's health, including his blood pressure, exact weight or whether he has continued using previously prescribed medication for high cholesterol — or even what testing he underwent. His campaign has also not disclosed whether Trump has been diagnosed with any diseases or received any mental health care after the assassination attempt.

That's giving his political adversaries, including Democratic rival Kamala Harris, an opportunity to raise questions about his age and ability to execute the duties of the presidency into his 80s.

“It makes you wonder: Why does his staff want him to hide away?” Harris asked recently as she needled Trump for withholding medical records, opting against another debate and skipping an interview with CBS' “60 Minutes.” “One must question: Are they afraid that people will see that he is too weak and unstable to lead America?

Trump's doctors have long been opaque about his health, such as when his team at the White House initially downplayed the severity of his 2020 hospitalization for COVID-19.

His representatives ignored multiple requests from The Associated Press to provide more detailed information about his status for this story.

In an effort to draw a contrast with Trump, Harris released a letter from her doctor on Saturday that went into far more detail about her medical history including a list of exams and the results. The letter said she has no heart, lung or neurological disorders, is at low risk for heart disease and up-to-date on cancer screenings. She takes medication for allergies and hives. She wears contact lenses, and her only surgery occurred at age 3, when her appendix was removed during an intestinal-related procedure.

While the letter didn't specify her weight, the 59-year-old vice president was declared to be in “excellent health” and to possess "the physical and mental resiliency” required to serve as president.

Still, it’s unclear that age will be a significant factor for voters. Polls found that voters were significantly less concerned about Trump’s mental capacity and physical health than they were about President Joe Biden's when he was still in the race. Since Harris replaced Biden on the ticket, Trump’s advantage on the issue has diminished.

The dynamic is ironic for Trump, who spent years assailing the 81-year-old Biden's age, depicting him as frail and unable to manage the challenges of the presidency. After a disastrous debate performance in June, Biden's fellow Democrats began openly raising similar concerns, ultimately prompting his decision to withdraw from the race and back Harris.

There’s no requirement that candidates release health data. But presidential nominees traditionally disclose medical records voluntarily given the demands of the job, particularly if there are concerns about their age.

In 2008, Republican nominee John McCain opened more than 1,000 pages of medical documents for the public to examine. At 72, he would have been the oldest president elected to a first term. Facing scrutiny over his advanced age in 2019, the then-77-year-old Biden released a three-page note from his doctor.

The last thorough report on Trump's health came in 2019, when he was still president. That checkup classified him as obese with a weight of 243 pounds and a body mass index of 30.4, which raises the risk of heart disease, diabetes and other problems. That report also revealed increased dosages of medication for high cholesterol. While Trump doesn’t drink alcohol or smoke, he has long avoided exercise other than golf and loves fast food.

As for his family history, his father had Alzheimer’s disease late in life, one potential risk factor.

Trump’s allies point to his active public lifestyle as evidence that he’s not on the decline.

Trump is a frequent golfer and an engaged host during social functions. He takes questions from the press far more often than Harris. He often speaks for more than 90 minutes at his rallies, standing the entire time and often ignoring the teleprompter.

Still, Trump's public appearances are often marked by rambling. He regularly confuses timelines, events and people.

Trump has confused Republican rival Nikki Haley with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He confused the location of a major military base. He mistakenly said that Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán led Turkey.

Trump regularly acknowledges questions about his age and health during public appearances. On Sunday in Arizona, Trump mocked critics who declare him “cognitively impaired” because he “mispronounced a word.”

“They say, He’s cognitively impaired!” Trump teased. “No, I’ll let you know when I will be. I will be someday — we all will be someday. I’ll be the first to let you know.”

Without further information, simple life expectancy of the average American man shows Trump has about a 79% change of surviving a four-year term, said aging researcher S. Jay Olshansky of the University of Illinois at Chicago, who studies presidential health and echoes the call for candidate medical records. The younger Harris has a nearly 97% chance of surviving a first term in office, he said.

When it comes to the presidency, “it’s not about age, it’s about function,” Olshansky cautioned.

Peoples reported from New York. Associated Press Writer Michelle L. Price in New York contributed to this report.

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during an interview with Bloomberg News Editor-in-Chief John Micklethwait during an event with the Economic Club of Chicago, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Chicago. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks during a break in a Fox News town hall with Harris Faulkner at The Reid Barn, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Cumming, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump listens during a break in a Fox News town hall with Harris Faulkner at The Reid Barn, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Cumming, Ga. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump poses for a photo with a supporter at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump would be the oldest person to become president. He's not sharing health details

Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump waves at a campaign event at the Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre, Tuesday, Oct. 15, 2024, in Atlanta. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Trump would be the oldest person to become president. He's not sharing health details

LAS VEGAS (AP) — A former Las Vegas-area Democratic elected official was sentenced Wednesday to serve at least 28 years in Nevada state prison for killing an investigative journalist who wrote articles critical of his conduct in office two years ago and exposed an intimate relationship with a female coworker.

A judge invoked sentencing enhancements for use of a deadly weapon and the age of the reporter to add eight years to the minimum 20-year sentence that a jury set in August after finding Robert Telles guilty of first-degree murder.

“The judge couldn't sentence him to any more time," Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson said after telling reporters the sentence represented justice for the community. “She gave him the maximum.”

Telles, 47, testified in his defense at trial, denying he stabbed Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German to death in September 2022. But evidence against him was strong — including his DNA beneath German’s fingernails.

Telles was the administrator of a county office that handles unclaimed estate and probate cases when he was arrested and jailed without bail several days after German's murder. He was stripped of his elected position weeks later.

Standing in shackles before the judge on Wednesday, Telles offered “deepest condolences” to German's family but again denied responsibility for the reporter's death.

“I understand the desire to seek justice and hold somebody accountable for this,” he said. “But I did not kill Mr. German.”

Prosecutor Pamela Weckerly told the judge that evidence showed Telles killed German because “he didn't like what Mr. German had written about him. He felt that Mr. German had cost him an elected position."

“This type of violence, this sort of political violence,” the prosecutor said, “is unacceptable and dangerous for a community as a whole.”

Telles’ defense attorney, Robert Draskovich, asked for leniency for Telles and told the judge that Telles intends to appeal his conviction. After sentence was pronounced, Draskovich withdrew as Telles' defense lawyer.

“The sentence was not surprising,” Draskovich said outside court. “We fulfilled our defense obligation. We parted on good terms. (Telles) preserved all his rights for appeal.”

German was 69. He was a respected reporter who spent 44 years covering crime, courts and corruption in Las Vegas.

Telles lost his primary for a second term in office after German’s stories in May and June 2022 described turmoil and bullying at the Clark County Public Administrator/Guardian office and a romantic relationship between Telles and a female employee. His law license was suspended following his arrest.

Police sought public help to identify a person captured on neighborhood security video driving a maroon SUV and walking while wearing a broad straw hat that hid his face and an oversized orange long-sleeve shirt. Weckerly showed the jury footage of the person wearing orange slipping into the side yard where German was stabbed, slashed and left dead.

At Telles’ house, police found a maroon SUV and cut-up pieces of a straw hat and a gray athletic shoe that looked like those worn by the person seen on video. Authorities did not find the orange shirt or a murder weapon.

Telles testified for several rambling hours at his trial, admitting for the first time that reports of the office romance were true. He said he was “framed” for the crime by a broad conspiracy involving a real estate company, police, DNA analysts, former co-workers and others. He told the jury he was victimized for crusading to root out corruption.

Wolfson and prosecutors at trial dismissed those claims as unbelievable.

“The jury squarely and soundly rejected all of that,” Weckerly said at sentencing. She called Telles' accounts ”hollow claims."

Other evidence against Telles was strong. Prosecutor Christopher Hamner told the jury that Telles blamed German for destroying his career, ruining his reputation and threatening his marriage.

Telles told the jury he took a walk and went to a gym at the time German was killed. But evidence showed Telles’ wife sent text messages to him about the same time killed asking, “Where are you?” Prosecutors said Telles left his cellphone at home so he couldn’t be tracked.

The jury deliberated nearly 12 hours over three days before finding Telles guilty. The panel heard pained sentencing hearing testimony from German's brother and two sisters, along with emotional pleas for leniency from Telles’ wife, ex-wife and mother, before deciding that Telles could be eligible for parole.

Clark County District Court Judge Michelle Leavitt was able to consider sentencing enhancements adding up to eight years to Telles' sentence for using a deadly weapon in a willful, deliberate, premeditated killing because German was older than 60 years old.

“This defendant has shown absolutely no remorse, no acceptance of responsibility," said Wolfson, the Democratic elected regional prosecutor. "And in fact, his behavior is such that I believe he is an extreme danger to the community if he is ever released.”

German was the only journalist killed in the U.S. in 2022, according to the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists. The nonprofit has records of 17 media workers killed in the U.S. since 1992.

“The sentencing of Robert Telles marks a significant milestone in the quest for justice," Katherine Jacobsen, the U.S., Canada, and Caribbean program coordinator at the committee, said Wednesday in a statement to The Associated Press. "Although the jailing of Telles cannot undo Jeff German’s murder, it can act as an important deterrent to would-be assailants of journalists.”

FILE - District Judge Michelle Leavitt speaks during a hearing for a juror question during deliberations for murder trial for Robert Telles, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)

FILE - Clark County Public Administrator Robert Telles, right, talks to Las Vegas Review-Journal reporter Jeff German in his Las Vegas office, May 11, 2022. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)

FILE - Robert Telles, right, a former Clark County public administrator charged in the murder of Las Vegas Review-Journal investigative journalist Jeff German, listens to closing arguments during his murder trial at the Regional Justice Center in Las Vegas, Aug. 26, 2024. With Telles are his attorneys Robert Draskovich, left, and Michael Horvath. (K.M. Cannon/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, Pool, File)