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Fact check: Did Donald Trump release his MoCA results and on what date?
Executive Summary
President Donald Trump’s Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score of 30 out of 30 has been publicly referenced by Trump himself and in White House communications, but the timeline and the formal “release” of results are inconsistent across sources. Some articles and a White House memorandum around April 2025 record or reference cognitive testing and an excellent cognitive evaluation after an April 11, 2025 physical, while other coverage points to Trump’s earlier public boasts (including July 23, 2020) and to MoCA administration in 2018, leaving ambiguity about a single, dated public release of formal scores [1] [2] [3] [4].
1. How the claim first appeared and why it stuck: Trump’s own boasts framed as a release
Public attention to Trump’s MoCA score began with his own public statements and media coverage that repeated them; Trump publicly boasted of a “perfect 30/30” on television appearances as early as July 23, 2020, which entrenched the idea that a perfect MoCA score existed and was known [1]. Reporting since then has treated that score as part of Trump’s medical narrative: his former White House physician, Dr. Ronny Jackson, and later physicians have been cited as having administered or discussed MoCA tests in 2018 and again in 2025, reinforcing that administrations occurred even if the precise mechanism for public release is unclear [4]. This pattern—repeated public claims by the subject interwoven with physician statements—creates public certainty even where official documentation is limited or nuanced.
2. What the White House memorandum actually says—and what it omits
A White House memorandum dated April 13, 2025, summarizes President Trump’s annual physical and states he is in excellent cognitive and physical health following an April 11, 2025 exam at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, but the memorandum itself does not explicitly note a formal public release of MoCA scores in the text cited; it presents a medical judgment of fitness rather than itemized test-score disclosures [3]. Other coverage of the same exam describes cognition testing and reports a 30/30 score, yet the memo’s wording and the reporting differ: one emphasizes clinical fitness while the other treats a specific test result as news, producing divergent impressions about whether a discrete, dated release of the MoCA score occurred [2] [3].
3. Conflicting reporting: did the White House “release” the MoCA or merely report exam conclusions?
Some outlets state the White House released results of Trump’s physical and cognitive exam, including a MoCA score of 30/30, without attaching a precise release date to that disclosure [2]. Other reporting highlights that the MoCA was administered on specific occasions (2018 and 2025) and that physicians confirmed administration and the 30/30 result, but those sources do not document a single definitive press release or public posting of raw test results tied to a clear calendar date [4] [3]. The distinction matters: announcing a physician’s summary judgment of cognitive fitness is not the same as publishing itemized test results on a particular date, yet media coverage has sometimes conflated the two, contributing to public confusion.
4. Timeline reconstruction from available sources: 2018, 2020, April 2025 are key touchpoints
Available reporting places MoCA administrations at three key moments: an initial administration in 2018 under Dr. Ronny Jackson, a widely publicized boast by Trump in July 2020 that he “got every answer right,” and another administration referenced in April 2025 tied to his Walter Reed exam and a memorandum dated April 13, 2025 [1] [4] [3]. The reporting therefore supports that Trump took and scored perfectly on the MoCA on multiple occasions, and that White House physicians have publicly affirmed testing, but no single source in the provided set demonstrates a formal, dated release labeled “MoCA results released on [date]” in the way the public often expects for clinical data disclosure [2] [3].
5. Why sources differ and what to watch for going forward
Differences stem from varying emphasis: Trump’s own media appearances and physician confirmations emphasize raw scores and narratives of fitness, while formal medical memoranda emphasize clinical conclusions without itemizing test-score releases [1] [3]. Media outlets sometimes present the physician’s summary and Trump’s boasts as interchangeable, which creates the impression of a formal score release even when documentation is limited or framed differently [2]. Readers should watch for primary documents—the full White House physician memorandum, dated test reports, or an explicit White House posting that states “MoCA results released on [date]”—to resolve the remaining ambiguity; absent such a document in the cited set, the claim that Trump “released” his MoCA on a specific date is not fully substantiated by the sources provided [3] [2].