Where is Donald Trump today? On the golf course

By Betsy Klein, CNN

(CNN) — It hasn’t been a sleepy August on the White House beat despite nearing the end of summer and the annual Congressional recess that usually slows the pace in the nation’s capital.

President Donald Trump made 26 public engagements this month, most recently, a three-plus-hour Cabinet meeting Tuesday where the president fielded questions on topics from Taylor Swift’s engagement to global conflicts.

So it was certainly unusual when, for three weekdays at the end of the month, Trump’s public schedule went uncharacteristically dark.

There were no events on his schedule on Wednesday, Thursday, or Friday, and it was announced that the president would spend his Labor Day weekend in Washington also with no public appearances scheduled. The conspicuous absence lighting conspiratorial corners of the internet and group chats ablaze with speculation about Trump’s wellbeing.

But on Saturday, he emerged, spotted by pool reporters in a white polo, black pants, and signature red “Make America Great Again” hat on the way to his Virginia golf club. Grandchildren Kai Trump and Spencer Trump were also along for the ride.

The White House press office often boasts of Trump as the “most accessible” president in history, tweaking his predecessor as they highlight his significant engagements with the press. As questions arose about the president’s activities and whereabouts, a White House official said Friday he was holding standard policy and staff meetings. He also sat for an hourlong interview with the conservative publication Daily Caller.

“He’s very much alive!” Daily Caller White House correspondent Reagan Reese said in a post to social media previewing her interview – a nod to intense conjecture amid the very online set.

During his first term, Trump, like his predecessors, took a summer vacation. He spent extended periods at his Bedminster, New Jersey, club in the month of August – 14 days in 2017, 15 in 2018, 14 in 2019, and 7 in 2020, during the Covid pandemic.

But the president has eschewed a lengthier respite this time around. He has spent six weekends in Bedminster since Memorial Day, plus a weekend at his Scotland golf property and 15 visits to his Northern Virginia golf course, including Saturday, while remaining at the White House.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that the online rumor mill generated intrigue amid broader concerns from the public about presidential wellness. Trump, at 79, will be the oldest president in history at the end of his term. And President Joe Biden was wracked with inquiries about his fitness for office, eventually prompting his withdrawal from his reelection campaign.

Images of Trump’s bruised hand prompted some speculation earlier this week, something the president’s physician, Dr. Sean Barbabella, dismissed as “minor soft tissue irritation from frequent handshaking and the use of aspirin.” Last month, the White House announced Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, after he was seen with swelling in his legs.

Trump, Barbabella said at the time, “remains in excellent health.”

CNN’s Jenna Monnin contributed to this report.

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