Swelling around President Donald Trump’s ankles appeared in photographs taken at the Pentagon’s observance on Friday, September 11, 2026, the service marking 25 years since the September 11 attacks — and the images returned a condition to public view that the White House had disclosed more than a year ago.

At the ceremony in Arlington, Virginia, First Lady Melania Trump sat next to her husband, Trump, 80. Pictures from the event caught him low in his chair, and his ankles looked as though they were spilling over the tops of his shoes.

On social media, some users said the president appeared to nod off or struggle to stay awake as the names of the victims were read aloud.

The limits of the images matter just as much. A photograph on its own cannot determine the cause, severity or progression of swelling, and it cannot establish whether what appeared at the Pentagon represented any change in Trump’s condition. No official, the White House included, indicated that the president experienced an acute medical problem during the ceremony.

What the White House Has Disclosed

None of the underlying diagnosis is new. The White House put out a statement on July 17, 2025, saying that a comprehensive examination of Trump, then 79, had identified chronic venous insufficiency after he developed swelling in his lower legs, following bilateral lower-extremity venous Doppler ultrasound scans.

Navy Capt. Sean Barbabella, the White House physician, called it “a benign and common condition,” one seen particularly in people over 70, and said the testing turned up no evidence of deep vein thrombosis or arterial disease. After Trump’s annual physical on April 11, 2025, he had written that blood flow to the president’s extremities was unimpaired.

A White House memorandum released May 30, 2026, after an exam two days earlier, remains the most recent public account of the president’s health. It said he was still in “excellent health,” noted “slight lower leg swelling” that was an “improvement from last year,” and called him fully fit to carry out all the duties of his office.

A “mystery bulge” was visible again beneath the back of Trump’s suit on Wednesday, September 16, 2026, during a campaign visit to North Carolina, in an Instagram story posted by White House aide Margo Martin that showed him speaking to reporters outside Air Force One. The White House has not said what it is. It was first spotted during a 60 Minutes interview in April.

How the Condition Works

Chronic venous insufficiency takes hold when the valves inside the leg veins stop sending blood back to the heart efficiently. Blood pools in the lower limbs, and swelling can follow in the lower legs and ankles. Age makes it more likely, and clinicians describe it as a chronic problem managed over a lifetime rather than cured.

How many people live with it is a matter of varying estimates. The Cleveland Clinic puts the reach of the condition at about one in 20 adults; other estimates set the share of affected adults at 10 percent to 35 percent, most of them 65 or older.

The standard regimen is unglamorous — walking and other activity, keeping the feet elevated while seated, and medical-grade compression stockings. Leg swelling can stem from a range of other conditions, so appearance alone does not settle the question; a venous reflux ultrasound measures how efficiently the veins return blood toward the heart.

In a Wall Street Journal interview published January 1, 2026, Trump said he had worn compression socks for a time before giving them up, and tries instead not to stay seated for long stretches. Golf is his exercise, though he often rides a cart.

Responding to a Daily Beast query about the bulge on Thursday, September 17, 2026, White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in an emailed statement: “Only the glue-sniffing degenerates at the failing Daily Beast would obsessively push baseless conspiracy theories about President Trump.” He went on to praise the president’s “sharpness, unmatched energy, relentless work ethic, and historic accessibility,” and accused the previous administration of covering up Joe Biden’s decline.

Inside the Pentagon Ceremony

Hijackers crashed American Airlines Flight 77 into the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, killing 184 people, whose names were read aloud at the service.

Trump had announced in August that he would mark the anniversary in Washington, so his appearance at the Pentagon rather than the main commemoration was known well in advance. Vice President JD Vance went to the Ground Zero ceremony, along with four former presidents — Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush and Bill Clinton.

The president flew out of Washington on the night of September 11, headed for Ireland.