Photographs taken at the Pentagon’s observance on Friday, September 11, 2026 — the service marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks — showed swelling around President Donald Trump’s ankles, returning to public view a condition the White House had disclosed more than a year ago.
First Lady Melania Trump sat next to her husband, Trump, 80, at the ceremony in Arlington, Virginia. Pictures from the event caught the president low in his chair, his ankles appearing to spill over the tops of his shoes.
Users on social media said he seemed to nod off or fight to stay awake while the victims’ names were read. Trump has at times been accused of appearing to drag his right leg, and in recent months has been seen tapping the same leg repeatedly while walking; administration officials have repeatedly dismissed concerns about his health.
What the pictures cannot show matters just as much. A photograph by itself cannot determine the cause, severity or progression of swelling, nor whether what appeared at the Pentagon represented any change in Trump’s condition. No official, the White House included, indicated that the president experienced an acute medical problem during the ceremony.
What the White House Has Disclosed
The underlying diagnosis has been on the record for more than a year. In a statement issued July 17, 2025, the White House said a comprehensive examination of Trump, then 79, had identified chronic venous insufficiency after he developed swelling in his lower legs, following bilateral lower-extremity venous Doppler ultrasound scans.
Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, the White House physician, called it “a benign and common condition,” one seen particularly in people over 70, and said the testing turned up no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. Barbabella had written after Trump’s annual physical on April 11, 2025, that blood flow to the president’s extremities was unimpaired.
A White House memorandum from May 30, 2026, issued after an exam two days earlier, is the newest public account of the president’s health. It described him as still in “excellent health” and fully fit to carry out all the duties of his office, while noting “slight lower leg swelling” that was an “improvement from last year.”
A “mystery bulge” surfaced again beneath the back of Trump’s suit on Wednesday, September 16, during a North Carolina campaign appearance for Republican Senate nominee Michael Whatley. White House aide Margo Martin posted an Instagram story that showed the president talking with reporters outside Air Force One. The White House has not said what it is. It was first spotted during a 60 Minutes interview in April. The same shape turned up last month in footage of a Long Island rally posted by former White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt, which showed a box-like outline as Trump turned to leave the stage.
New photographs from the president’s arrival at Charlotte International Airport on September 16, before the campaign appearance in Gastonia, North Carolina, showed mottled purple and blue marks on his left hand as he gripped the stair rail, with makeup again visible on his right hand as he spoke to reporters. Previous images more often showed discoloration on the back of his right hand. The White House has attributed the bruising to frequent handshaking, and Trump has said his use of “big aspirin” contributes.
How the Condition Works
Chronic venous insufficiency sets in when the valves inside the leg veins stop returning blood to the heart efficiently. Blood pools in the lower limbs, and swelling can follow in the lower legs and ankles. The odds rise with age, and clinicians describe it as a chronic problem managed over a lifetime rather than cured.
Estimates of how many people live with it vary widely. The Cleveland Clinic pegs the condition’s reach at about one in 20 adults, while other estimates set the share of affected adults at 10 percent to 35 percent, most of them 65 or older.
Treatment is unglamorous: walking and other activity, feet elevated while seated, and medical-grade compression stockings. A range of other conditions can also produce leg swelling, so appearance alone does not settle the question; a venous reflux ultrasound gauges how efficiently the veins send blood back toward the heart.
Trump said in a Wall Street Journal interview published January 1, 2026, that he had worn compression socks for a time before giving them up, and now tries not to stay seated for long stretches. He golfs for exercise, though he often rides a cart.
White House spokesman Davis Ingle, replying by email to a Daily Beast query about the bulge on Thursday, September 17, said: “Only the glue-sniffing degenerates at the failing Daily Beast would obsessively push baseless conspiracy theories about President Trump.” He also praised the president’s “sharpness, unmatched energy, relentless work ethic, and historic accessibility,” and accused the previous administration of covering up Joe Biden’s decline.
Daily Beast executive editor Hugh Dougherty said of the shape that it “looks like there’s a book under his jacket,” and added: “We don’t know anything about Trump’s health. We have had reports that don’t stand up to medical scrutiny. This week we have a group of psychiatrists who are saying there are significant reasons to look at his social media output and say, this is somebody who is exhibiting psychiatric problems and requires examination.” Daily Beast chief content officer Joanna Coles asked: “Do you think this was a medical device?”
Inside the Pentagon Ceremony
Hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing 184 people. Their names were read aloud at the service.
His choice of the Pentagon over the main commemoration was known well in advance: Trump had announced in August that he would mark the anniversary in Washington. Vice President JD Vance went to the Ground Zero ceremony, along with four former presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.
The president left Washington on the night of September 11, bound for Ireland.