Trump’s Former Doctor Says Office Was Raided and Files Seized

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WASHINGTON — President Trump’s longtime physician said in an interview published Tuesday that after he told The New York Times that Mr. Trump took a drug to promote hair growth, two Trump aides staged what he called “a raid” of his Manhattan office in February 2017 and removed all of Mr. Trump’s medical files.

Dr. Harold N. Bornstein, who served as Mr. Trump’s personal doctor for 36 years, told NBC News that the roughly half-hour encounter left him feeling “raped, frightened and sad.” He said that since the president’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, accompanied by a lawyer for the Trump Organization, Alan Garten, and a third man he did not recognize took the files, he has had no contact with Mr. Trump and been effectively removed from his orbit.

In a brief phone call with The Times on Tuesday, Dr. Bornstein did not elaborate on what he told NBC except to say that his earlier interviews with a reporter for the newspaper had caused him “torture for more than a year.” He demanded an apology and a large donation in his name to Tufts University, where he completed medical school. The Times declined both requests.

Dr. Bornstein had privately told several associates that he had been the target of a raid during which handwritten records and printed laboratory results were seized, but he had declined to answer questions publicly about the episode until this week.

He told NBC that he decided to speak out after seeing reports that Dr. Ronny L. Jackson, the president’s nominee to run the Department of Veterans Affairs, had been accused of doling out medications and behaving inappropriately while serving as the White House physician. Dr. Jackson withdrew from consideration for the post shortly afterward.

Sarah Huckabee Sanders, the White House press secretary, said Tuesday that Dr. Jackson would return to the White House medical unit but not as Mr. Trump’s physician. She said Dr. Sean Conley, a Navy commander who has been the acting White House physician since Dr. Jackson’s nomination to the cabinet, would replace him.

“This is like a celebration for me,” Dr. Bornstein said.

Ms. Sanders dismissed Dr. Bornstein’s description of the visit by the three men as a raid. In a briefing with reporters, she said that the files had been removed by the White House medical unit as part of a standard transition procedure.

“The White House medical unit took possession of the president’s medical records,” Ms. Sanders said. Asked whether the visit was a raid carried out by Mr. Schiller, she replied, “That is not my understanding.” She did not address why Mr. Schiller, who was not a part of the unit, had been present.

Dr. Bornstein said that he was not given a standard release form conforming to Hipaa regulations to sign over Mr. Trump’s records before they were taken. But Ms. Sanders said that the White House medical unit supplied Dr. Bornstein with a letter requesting the records.

The Trump Organization, which at the time employed both Mr. Schiller and Mr. Garten, declined to comment.

In his initial interviews with The New York Times in 2017, Dr. Bornstein made no secret of the fact that he had wanted to be the White House physician.

During the presidential campaign, he wrote two letters vouching for Mr. Trump’s health. In December 2015, he said that Mr. Trump would be “the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” and in September 2016, he said that Mr. Trump was “in excellent physical health.” (As his frustrations appeared to mount on Tuesday, Dr. Bornstein told CNN that Mr. Trump had dictated the contents of the first letter.)

Dr. Bornstein quickly fell out of favor with Mr. Trump after the Times article, in which he gave a public accounting of Mr. Trump’s health and complained about the poor seats he was assigned at the president’s inauguration.

In the Times interviews — for which he also asked for a donation in his name to Tufts, a request The Times also declined — Dr. Bornstein discussed Mr. Trump’s medical history and bragged about having “every phone number for him and all the wives,” whom he also treated. He said Mr. Trump, rumored to be a germaphobe, “changes the paper on the table himself” after examinations.

He also described the medications Mr. Trump was taking: antibiotics to control rosacea, a statin for elevated blood cholesterol and lipids, and finasteride, a prostate-related drug to promote hair growth.

“He has all his hair,” said Dr. Bornstein, who also took the drug. He also slipped in a boast about his own shoulder-length coif: “I have all my hair.”

Among other claims he made to NBC about the confrontation in his office, Dr. Bornstein said Mr. Schiller and Mr. Garten instructed him to remove a photo of Mr. Trump from the wall. As his lopsided news media tour continued, Dr. Bornstein also fielded a brief call from CBS.

“Sweetheart, this is Watergate. Goodbye!” the doctor said to a producer for the network before hanging up.

Nate Schweber contributed reporting from New York, and Julie Hirschfeld Davis from Washington.

A version of this article appears in print on , on Page A14 of the New York edition with the headline: Doctor Says Trump Aides Raided His Office for Files. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

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