President Trump, now 79 years old, became the nation’s oldest person ever sworn into the executive office when he took the oath on Jan. 20, 2025. Now, his age and recent conduct have sparked intense debate about his fitness to serve during wartime.
Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, has launched an extraordinary effort to force a cognitive evaluation of the president. In a letter sent to White House physician Sean Barbabella on April 10, 2026, Raskin demanded a comprehensive assessment and a congressional briefing on the findings.
“At a time when our country is at war—especially when the war was initiated by the president without congressional declaration or consent—the American people must be able to trust that the commander-in-chief has the mental capacity to discharge the essential duties of his office,” Raskin wrote in his letter to White House physician Sean Barbabella.
The Maryland lawmaker pointed to specific troubling moments involving Trump’s handling of the U.S. conflict with Iran. On April 7, the president issued a stark warning that “a whole civilization will die tonight” if Iranian leaders failed to reopen the Strait of Hormuz by his deadline. Days earlier, on Easter Sunday, Trump posted a profanity-laden message using aggressive expletives demanding Iran reopen the Strait.
Trump’s remarks at the White House Easter Egg Roll on April 6 particularly disturbed Democratic lawmakers. While children in pastel dresses and bunny ears played on the South Lawn, the president spent considerable time discussing military operations in Iran, touching on topics ranging from downed fighter pilot rescues to threats against Iranian infrastructure.
Raskin characterized the Easter Sunday social media post in stark terms in his letter to Barbabella. “When the president of the United States threatens to extinguish a civilization on social media, rants about combat missions with children at the Easter Egg Roll, and drops profane tirades on Easter morning, we have indisputably entered the realm of profound medical difficulty and concern,” he wrote.
The congressman described Trump’s post as “a bizarre display that shocked tens of millions of Americans and astonished observers across the political spectrum,” noting it combined “vulgarity and profanity, unprecedented threats of mass civilian destruction, and a sarcastic invocation of Islam on Easter morning.”
Concern about the president’s behavior isn’t confined to Democrats. Former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who departed Congress in January following a bitter split with Trump after years as one of his most loyal supporters, weighed in forcefully. On April 5, she posted on X that “he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit” in reference to the Easter Sunday incident. Two days later, she publicly advocated for invoking the 25th Amendment.
More than 85 Democratic members of Congress have now called for impeachment or removal via the 25th Amendment. On April 14, Raskin introduced a bill to establish a 17-member bipartisan commission, authorized under Section 4 of the 25th Amendment, empowered to assess whether Trump should be removed from office.
Removing Trump through the 25th Amendment faces formidable barriers. Vice President JD Vance and a majority of Cabinet members would need to agree to the action initially. Even if passed, Vance would still need to sign off on the commission’s findings, and two-thirds majorities in both chambers would be required for permanent removal. There are currently no signs that any Cabinet officials support such a move, nor that Vance would back it.
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle delivered a blistering response to Raskin’s demand. He attacked the congressman as “a stupid person’s idea of a smart person” and mounted a vigorous defense of Trump’s capabilities. “President Trump’s sharpness, unmatched energy, and historic accessibility stand in stark contrast to what we saw during the past four years when Democrats like Raskin intentionally covered up Joe Biden’s serious mental and physical decline from the American people,” Ingle told reporters.
The political dynamics reflect a reversal from recent history. Republicans previously subpoenaed Biden’s White House physician and issued a comprehensive staff report examining his cognitive health, establishing a framework that Democrats now cite when raising questions about Trump’s mental state.
Trump has repeatedly highlighted his cognitive test results. During a Cabinet meeting on March 26, 2026, he unprompted raised the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, declaring he’s “the only president that ever took a cognitive test” and emphasizing how challenging the 30-point screening tool is, designed to detect mild cognitive impairment and early dementia.
The president often boasts about “acing” cognitive assessments while providing few specifics and frequently attacking his critics as having low IQs. At his April 2025 annual physical, his White House physician declared him in “excellent health,” and Trump scored 30 out of 30 on the Montreal Cognitive Assessment during that exam. He has since faced additional health concerns, including chronic venous insufficiency, diagnosed in July 2025, and recurring bruised hands that raised questions among medical observers.
Despite the growing chorus of concern from Democrats and some former Trump allies, the White House shows no sign of bowing to demands for a comprehensive cognitive assessment. With Republicans controlling both chambers of Congress and Vice President Vance showing no signs of supporting a 25th Amendment challenge, the likelihood of any formal action remains remote.
The controversy continues to dominate political discourse in Washington as lawmakers grapple with questions about presidential fitness during a critical moment of international conflict, setting the stage for what promises to be an intensifying debate as the 2026 midterm elections approach and Trump, 79, continues his tenure as the nation’s oldest sitting president.
