This is not an official government website.
© 2026 PLEJ LC. All rights reserved.
Congressional Daily Record
This section captures a floor statement or debate entry. It mentions members such as Sheldon Whitehouse.
Issued
April 30, 2026
senate side of the record
People
1
Linked members mentioned in this section
Legislation
0
No linked legislation in this section
Committees
0
No linked committees in this section
Senate Holds
0
No hold activity linked here
Source Document
Connected Data
People mentioned
Source Control
Reader mode is for comprehension. The linked government PDF is the official published source.
Download official Senate Record PDFReturn to issue contextMr. WHITEHOUSE. Mr. President, I ask unanimous consent to have printed in the Record the following statement from medical professionals and their names into the Record on behalf of myself and Senator Reed.
Medical Concerns About President Donald J. Trump and His Fitness for
Office
The following is not a political statement. It is a medical
one, made by individuals holding both conservative and
liberal ideologies, identifying as both Republicans and
Democrats, from different backgrounds, races, ethnicities,
and religions.
We are a group of neurologists, forensic psychiatrists,
general psychiatrists, and other physicians, along with other
mental health professionals, experienced in the diagnosis of
cognitive disorders and in evaluating dangerousness to self
and others. Among us are professionals whom the courts and
criminal justice system regularly turn to for our expert
opinion on these matters. We are also consulted by
governments in matters related to national security and the
psychological profiles of world leaders. Prior to the
presidential election in the Fall of 2024, a statement
assessing Donald J. Trump's mental fitness for the presidency
was issued. At that time, serious signs of cognitive decline
were identified, and in our expert opinion, these signs
warranted disqualification from office.
It is our professional opinion, based on previous and
ongoing assessments, that Donald Trump's mental state since
our 2024 statement has deteriorated even further. In keeping
with our professional ethics, and for those of us who are
physicians, with the Declaration of Geneva—the successor to
the Hippocratic Oath that binds us to the humanitarian
principles of medicine since the Nuremberg trials—we are
compelled to warn of a President of the United States who is
increasingly a danger to the public.
We do not take our statement, and the responsibility that
comes with making it, lightly.
The President was not examined face to face, and he is not
a patient of any member of our group. Rendering a formal
diagnosis in this case is not our role. We have closely
followed his behavior and his statements over the past year.
Objectively observable signs of serious medical concern
include:
Marked deterioration in cognitive functioning, evidenced by
disorganized and tangential speech, rambling digressions,
factual confusions, unexplained sudden changes of course in
strategic matters, both national and international, episodes
of apparent somnolence during critical public proceedings.
Grandiose and delusional beliefs, including assertions of
infallibility, imagery of himself as Pope suggestive of a
divine mission, being a mythical warrior hero, depicting
himself as combat pilot—dropping feces on civilians, and
claims that his decision-making authority is unlimited—with
no need to consider domestic and international laws and
constrained only by his “own morality.”
Severely impaired judgment and impulse control, reflected
in reckless threats of violence, advocacy of lethal force
against civilians, encouragement of extrajudicial actions by
armed supporters, repeated threats and often actions—
judicial, prosecutorial, police, military, and by invoking
emergency powers—against political opponents and others who
disagree with him.
Significant loss of self-control (disinhibition) and
getting stuck on the same thoughts or actions, unable to let
go or move on (perseveration), including seemingly
compulsive, manic-like late-night communications—e.g., 150
social media posts in one night—fixation on perceived
enemies, persecutory ideas, and prolonged, disproportionate
attacks on specific individuals and institutions.
Escalating violence that threatens national and global
stability. As Commander-in-Chief of our military—more than
5,000 nuclear warheads in inter-continental missile silos, on
submarines, and in bombers around the world, are ready for
launch solely upon his order, and no one now has the
authority to countermand his order.
On August 7, 1974, as President Richard Nixon's impeachment
loomed, White House Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig,
was so alarmed by Nixon's wandering the halls of the White
House at night, sleepless, distraught, and heavily
intoxicated, talking out loud to portraits of past presidents
on the walls, that he alerted Defense Secretary James
Schlesinger. Equally alarmed, Schlesinger directed Chairman
of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General George S. Brown, that
any military orders from Nixon—especially nuclear ones—
first be cleared through him or Secretary of State Henry
Kissinger. It has been reported that the nuclear “football”
that contains the codes for a nuclear launch was then quietly
removed from Nixon's control.
The public and those with the power to address such
potentially catastrophic conditions must ask themselves if
they—and we—are confident that officials such as Secretary
of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio
would do the same.
It is our professional opinion that the behaviors of Donald
Trump, tragically, are neither momentary lapses nor political
theater. It is our professional opinion that they reflect a
rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous
decline. If we were called upon under the 25th Amendment to
judge the President's present ability to discharge the duties
of his office, we would have to conclude that he lacks the
capacity to do so.
For the reasons cited above, emphasizing that he presents a
clear and present danger to our country and to the world, it
is our expert opinion that Donald J. Trump is mentally unfit
to be the President of the United States, and that steps to
remove him from office must be undertaken with the greatest
urgency, with vital responsibilities on the shoulders of
those in positions of leadership.
Henry David Abraham, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry
Emeritus, Tufts University School of Medicine.
Bernard D. Beitman, M.D., Professor Emeritus and Former
Chair of Psychiatry, University of Missouri School of
Medicine.
William Bernet, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and
Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of
Medicine.
Ravi Chandra, M.D., Distinguished Fellow, American
Psychiatric Association.
Eric Chivian, M.D., Former Assistant Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Co-Founder, International
Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Recipient of
the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.
Lance Dodes, M.D., Former Assistant Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Training and Supervising
Analyst Emeritus, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and
Institute.
Jennifer I. Downey, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry,
Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.
George Drinka, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences University, Former Medical
Director, CPC Cedar Hills Hospital, Portland, Oregon.
Julian Fisher, M.D., Former Lecturer in Neurology, Harvard
Medical School.
Justin Frank, M.D., Former Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine,
Co-Director, Metropolitan Center for Object Relations, New
York City.
Mindy T. Fullilove, M.D., Professor Emerita of Urban Policy
and Health, The New School.
Nanette Gartrell, M.D., Former Professor of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School, Former Professor of Psychiatry,
University of California, San Francisco.
Prudence L. Gourguechon, M.D., Past President, American
Psychoanalytic Association.
Gordan P. Harper, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry,
Harvard Medical School.
Ira Helfand, M.D., Former Chair of Emergency Medicine,
Cooley-Dickinson Hospital, International Steering Group, The
International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Recipient
of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.
Julia C. Hoigaard, Ph.D., Former Lecturer in Psychology,
University of California, Irvine, Co-author of Gottschalk-
Gleser Content Analysis Scales.
Howard Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D., Professor of Population and
Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC,
University of Southern California.
Jerome Kroll, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry,
University of Minnesota Medical School.
Robert S. Lawrence, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Center for a
Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public
Health, Former Chief of Medicine, Cambridge City Hospital,
now known as The Cambridge Health Alliance.
Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div., President, World Mental Health
Coalition (Washington, DC), Co-Founder, Preventing Violence
Now (New York), Former Faculty of Social Medicine, Harvard
Medical School, Former Faculty of Psychiatry, Yale School of
Medicine.
Rosanne M. Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emerita of
Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine
at Mount Sinai.
Craig Malkin, Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychology, Harvard
Medical School, Former Chief Inpatient Psychologist,
Cambridge City Hospital, now known as The Cambridge Health
Alliance.
James R. Merikangas, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist and Clinical
Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School
of Medicine.
Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D., Former Professor of Psychiatry,
University of California, San Francisco.
Denis J. O'Keefe, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., Professor of Social
Work, New York University, Past President, International
Psychohistorical Association.
Jennifer C. Panning, Psy.D., Founder, Mindful Psychology
Associates (Evanston, IL).
John O. Pastore, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Tufts
University School of Medicine, Former Research Physician,
Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Mark Peppercorn, M.D., Professor of Medicine Emeritus,
Harvard Medical School.
Claire Pouncey, M.D., Ph.D., Former President, Association
for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry.
Robert C. Rutherford, M.D. M.P.H., Emergency Physician,
Former Director, Monroe County Health Department, Florida.
Larry S. Sandberg, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of
Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical Center.
Stephen Soldz, Ph.D., Professor, Boston Graduate School of
Psychoanalysis, Former President, Psychologists for Social
Responsibility, Co-Founder, Coalition for an Ethical
Psychology.
Lise Van Susteren, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of
Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine,
Consultant Profiler to the Executive Branch, Federal
Government.
Michael J. Tansey, Ph.D., Former Assistant Clinical
Professor of Psychology, Northwestern University Medical
School.
Mark W. Weber, Ph.D., L.I.C.S.W., Former Lecturer in
Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.
John Zinner, M.D., Clinical Professor Emeritus of
Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, George Washington
University Medical Center, Former Head of Family Therapy
Studies, National Institute of Mental Health.