Tilting the scales of justice: Trump's height, weight raise eyebrows
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Former president Donald Trump and attorney Alina Habba at a recent golf event in Bedminster, New Jersey.
PHOTO: AFP
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WASHINGTON - Does Donald Trump truly weigh 215 pounds (97kg), as stated by authorities after his arrest on racketeering and conspiracy charges in Georgia? Many Americans are not buying it.
Trump, who posed for a mug shot during the booking process in Atlanta on Thursday, was reportedly allowed to provide his own statistics to the Fulton County Jail.
It listed the height of inmate number “PO1135809“ as six foot three inches (1.9m), his weight as 215 pounds and his hair colour as either “Blond or Strawberry.”
The response was sceptical.
“If Donald Trump is 215 pounds, like he said on his booking sheet, I dated Halle Berry,” liberal commentator and former South Carolina lawmaker Bakari Sellers quipped on CNN.
Trump reportedly told police in New York when he was arrested there in April that he was six foot two inches (1.87m) and weighed 240 pounds (108kg) – meaning the 77-year-old apparently lost 25 pounds and grew one inch, in five months.
MSNBC – following the lead of many, many social media users – broadcast a striking gallery of full-length portraits of Trump and sports legends in their prime with similar measurements.
It showed the former president with a distinct paunch compared to American football players Tom Brady (1.93m, 102kg) and Lamar Jackson (1.87m, 97kg), or boxer Mohamed Ali (1.9m, 97kg).
Trump, an avid golfer, has often used hyperbole to describe his physical well-being, mental acuity and genes – but contradictory and incomplete information over the years has ensured his actual health status remains cloudy.
In 2015, his campaign released a letter claiming Trump’s laboratory results were “astonishingly excellent” and he would be the “healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency.” His physician later said Trump dictated the letter.
White House doctors, in relatively vague annual reports, always certified he was in good shape – though technically obese, with the publicly disclosed check-up in 2020 claiming he was 1.9m and weighed 110kg.
Trump’s rival, President Joe Biden, stands at 1.82m and weighs 80kg, according to his February 2023 medical checkup. AFP
President Joe Biden stands at 1.82m and weighs 80kg.
PHOTO: REUTERS
