By Sarah Ferris, Adam Cancryn, CNN
(CNN) — President Donald Trump on Monday revealed that a US congressman had faced a “terminal” health condition and said he had only months to live before he personally intervened to help the Republican get surgery.
Trump, sitting alongside House Speaker Mike Johnson, was touting the fierce determination of Rep. Neal Dunn of Florida, a 73-year-old who he said had been showing up to work despite his health challenges.
“He would be dead by June,” Trump said of Dunn, though he did not specify any diagnosis the congressman had received from doctors.
“OK, that wasn’t public,” Johnson said. “But yeah, OK. It was grim, that’s what I was going to say.”
Trump added, “This was a heart problem” — revealing more details that Dunn’s office hasn’t shared publicly.
Republican leaders, including Johnson, have carefully avoided any public discussion about Dunn’s health, though the leadership teams have been keeping a careful eye on him, as CNN has reported. Johnson and his team are governing a House with the smallest margin since before World War II, and they’ve already had one unexpected death in the last year, along with severe injuries.
Dunn has said little about his health though he and his office have made clear that he had no intentions of leaving his seat early.
Dunn’s office did not return a request for comment from CNN about Trump’s remarks.
Johnson and Trump said Monday that they hope Dunn’s health has improved after the president intervened in his treatment.
The speaker said that after Trump personally phoned Dunn to thank him for showing up to work despite his health condition, the president offered to have Dunn see his doctors. “Within a number of hours,” Johnson said, Dunn was at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in emergency surgery.
“The man has a new lease on life,” Johnson said of Dunn’s improved health.
Trump recalled the call where he found out about Dunn’s condition: “He called to say that he was terminal, really bad heart. There’s nothing they can do. I said, ‘That’s bad.’ Number one, it was bad because I liked him. Number two, it was bad because I needed his vote.”
Shortly after Trump spoke of Dunn in the meeting, he turned attention to his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and the health challenges she’s facing.
Trump called Wiles an “amazing fighter” shortly after he had announced in a Truth Social post that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer.
“She announced a little minor difficulty, which will be in good shape,” Trump said, turning to Wiles, who was sitting next to him. “She’ll be around for a long time.”
In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote that Wiles has an “excellent” prognosis and would be “virtually full time at the White House” while she receives treatment.
“She’s going to take care of it immediately, as opposed to waiting,” Trump said. “She’s going to be in great shape. The prognosis there is excellent, beyond excellent.”
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