Has any US president or major candidate publicly released cognitive test results before 2025?
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Executive summary
Only a narrow set of cognitive-screening results have been publicly reported for a U.S. president before 2025: President Donald Trump’s 2018 Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) score — reported as 30 out of 30 by his physician — is the clearest documented example [1]. Beyond that, claims by presidents or candidates that they “aced” cognitive exams in later years have often been publicized by the subjects themselves without release of full test documents or independent verification, and major candidates generally have not made comprehensive cognitive test results broadly available before 2025 [2] [3].
1. A single clear instance: Trump’s 2018 MoCA score was publicly announced
The most concrete public disclosure on record is the 2018 announcement by then–White House physician Dr. Ronny Jackson that President Trump’s Montreal Cognitive Assessment score was 30/30, a result that was communicated in a press briefing and subsequently cited in medical reporting and news coverage [1]. That announcement is the closest thing to a formal, public cognitive-test result for a sitting president prior to 2025 and has been repeatedly referenced in later reporting about presidential cognitive screening [1] [4].
2. Later boasts vs. released data: 2025 claims without full public documentation
In 2025, President Trump publicly asserted he had “aced” additional cognitive exams taken that year and said he would release related imaging results from an October MRI, but reporting shows he did not make comprehensive cognitive-test score sheets or full examination records broadly available at that time — outlets note his repeated claims while also pointing out the absence of a formal public dossier of results [5] [6] [7]. Some sources state he “took the test two more times in 2025” [1], and others emphasize he has bragged about acing tests yet “has never released the results” in full [2], highlighting a tension in coverage between physician statements, presidential claims, and availability of underlying documentation.
3. What counts as “publicly released” — spotty norms and different standards
Presidential health reporting has long mixed formal medical memos, terse physician summaries, and selective disclosures; a brief press briefing stating a MoCA score is not the same as publication of full cognitive-test records or independent peer-reviewed evaluations [1] [2]. Medical experts and journalists repeatedly note the limits of short screening tools like the MoCA — they screen for impairment but do not equate to comprehensive neuropsychological batteries — and many physicians resist routine public release of raw test data for privacy and clinical reasons, which complicates claims about transparency [3] [1].
4. Major candidates: demands, rhetoric, and an absence of comprehensive public releases
Calls from political figures — for instance, Nikki Haley and Donald Trump — for rivals to take cognitive tests have been prominent, and some candidates have undergone brief screenings or had doctors affirm fitness in summary memos, but there is no record before 2025 of a major presidential candidate releasing a full, detailed cognitive-test dossier to the public comparable to other medical or financial disclosures [2] [3]. Reporting notes public statements by physicians about overall health and fitness (for example, descriptions of Joe Biden’s physical exams in 2024–25), but these typically stop short of publishing full cognitive-test materials [2].
5. Competing narratives and incentives: why partial disclosure dominates
Political incentives favor headline-friendly claims — “aced the test,” “perfect” results — while clinical practice and privacy concerns limit raw-data release; media outlets and some doctors therefore fill gaps with summaries, selective memos, or sourced reporting that can conflict on detail [7] [6]. Sources diverge: some emphasize a documented 2018 MoCA result [1], while others underline that later claimed tests were not fully released [2], so readers confront both factual disclosures and politically motivated rhetoric.