The daughters of the Queens podiatrist who diagnosed now-President Trump with the bone spurs that exempted him from Vietnam War service says their father may have done so as a favor to Fred Trump, who owned the building that housed the practice.
The daughters of a New York podiatrist who diagnosed now-President Donald Trump with the bone spurs in 1968 that exempted him from the Vietnam War service says their father, Dr. Larry Braunstein, may have done so as a favor to Fred Trump, who owned the building that housed the practice. The New York Times reports that Elysa Braunstein, one of the daughters, "said the implication from her father was that Mr. [Donald] Trump did not have a disqualifying foot ailment." She told the Times that what her father "got was access to [Donald Trump's father, Fred Trump]. If there was anything wrong in the building, my dad would call and Trump would take care of it immediately. That was the small favor that he got." A freeze on rent increases was also mentioned as a possible perk. Notably, there is no documentation of such an agreement, nor do there appear to be any surviving medical records related to the bone spur diagnosis. President Trump has acknowledged the condition as a reason for his exemption from service, notes the Washington Post. He's also downplayed it and stressed that it was his high draft lottery number that kept him from combat.
