A behind-the-scenes political memoir written by a prominent White
House physician.
I would talk to the president before the chief of staff even saw the
president in the morning. I walked into work, and I was already in the
Oval Office talking to President Trump.
It was rarely medical, to be honest with you; it was whatever was going
on in the news. I'd be the first person he'd see in the morning. The
president was completing tasks two to three hours before anybody else
showed up in the West Wing to work. He'd get up at five o'clock in the
morning and would be watching TV, tweeting, making phone calls, and
doing all types of other tasks.
President Trump would poke his head into my office or I'd walk out, and
we would say, "Good morning. Did you see this or that?" He was always
asking me about things on TV and what was going on, from Iran to Stormy
Daniels.
He'd say, "Walk with me." So I'd walk him to the Oval Office, and we'd
talk about everything. I'd walk out through the outer Oval Office and
the chief of staff, national security advisor, and even the CIA briefer
would be standing there, waiting to get in and talk to him. I'd walk
out, they'd walk in, and his day would start. I was the first person he
saw every morning and the last person he saw every evening when he went
to bed.