Statement From Medical Professionals

Floor Speech

Trump and His Fitness for Office

The following is not a political statement. It is a medical one, made by individuals holding both conservative and liberal ideologies, identifying as both Republicans and Democrats, from different backgrounds, races, ethnicities, and religions.

We are a group of neurologists, forensic psychiatrists, general psychiatrists, and other physicians, along with other mental health professionals, experienced in the diagnosis of cognitive disorders and in evaluating dangerousness to self and others. Among us are professionals whom the courts and criminal justice system regularly turn to for our expert opinion on these matters. We are also consulted by governments in matters related to national security and the psychological profiles of world leaders. Prior to the presidential election in the Fall of 2024, a statement assessing Donald J. Trump's mental fitness for the presidency was issued. At that time, serious signs of cognitive decline were identified, and in our expert opinion, these signs warranted disqualification from office.

It is our professional opinion, based on previous and ongoing assessments, that Donald Trump's mental state since our 2024 statement has deteriorated even further. In keeping with our professional ethics, and for those of us who are physicians, with the Declaration of Geneva--the successor to the Hippocratic Oath that binds us to the humanitarian principles of medicine since the Nuremberg trials--we are compelled to warn of a President of the United States who is increasingly a danger to the public.

We do not take our statement, and the responsibility that comes with making it, lightly.

The President was not examined face to face, and he is not a patient of any member of our group. Rendering a formal diagnosis in this case is not our role. We have closely followed his behavior and his statements over the past year.

Objectively observable signs of serious medical concern include:

Marked deterioration in cognitive functioning, evidenced by disorganized and tangential speech, rambling digressions, factual confusions, unexplained sudden changes of course in strategic matters, both national and international, episodes of apparent somnolence during critical public proceedings.

Grandiose and delusional beliefs, including assertions of infallibility, imagery of himself as Pope suggestive of a divine mission, being a mythical warrior hero, depicting himself as combat pilot--dropping feces on civilians, and claims that his decision-making authority is unlimited--with no need to consider domestic and international laws and constrained only by his ``own morality.''

Severely impaired judgment and impulse control, reflected in reckless threats of violence, advocacy of lethal force against civilians, encouragement of extrajudicial actions by armed supporters, repeated threats and often actions-- judicial, prosecutorial, police, military, and by invoking emergency powers--against political opponents and others who disagree with him.

Significant loss of self-control (disinhibition) and getting stuck on the same thoughts or actions, unable to let go or move on (perseveration), including seemingly compulsive, manic-like late-night communications--e.g., 150 social media posts in one night--fixation on perceived enemies, persecutory ideas, and prolonged, disproportionate attacks on specific individuals and institutions.

Escalating violence that threatens national and global stability. As Commander-in-Chief of our military--more than 5,000 nuclear warheads in inter-continental missile silos, on submarines, and in bombers around the world, are ready for launch solely upon his order, and no one now has the authority to countermand his order.

On August 7, 1974, as President Richard Nixon's impeachment loomed, White House Chief of Staff, General Alexander Haig, was so alarmed by Nixon's wandering the halls of the White House at night, sleepless, distraught, and heavily intoxicated, talking out loud to portraits of past presidents on the walls, that he alerted Defense Secretary James Schlesinger. Equally alarmed, Schlesinger directed Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General George S. Brown, that any military orders from Nixon--especially nuclear ones-- first be cleared through him or Secretary of State Henry Kissinger. It has been reported that the nuclear ``football'' that contains the codes for a nuclear launch was then quietly removed from Nixon's control.

The public and those with the power to address such potentially catastrophic conditions must ask themselves if they--and we--are confident that officials such as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and Secretary of State Marco Rubio would do the same.

It is our professional opinion that the behaviors of Donald Trump, tragically, are neither momentary lapses nor political theater. It is our professional opinion that they reflect a rapidly worsening, reality-untethered, increasingly dangerous decline. If we were called upon under the 25th Amendment to judge the President's present ability to discharge the duties of his office, we would have to conclude that he lacks the capacity to do so.

For the reasons cited above, emphasizing that he presents a clear and present danger to our country and to the world, it is our expert opinion that Donald J. Trump is mentally unfit to be the President of the United States, and that steps to remove him from office must be undertaken with the greatest urgency, with vital responsibilities on the shoulders of those in positions of leadership.

Henry David Abraham, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry Emeritus, Tufts University School of Medicine.

Bernard D. Beitman, M.D., Professor Emeritus and Former Chair of Psychiatry, University of Missouri School of Medicine.

William Bernet, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine.

Ravi Chandra, M.D., Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association.

Eric Chivian, M.D., Former Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Co-Founder, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, Recipient of the 1985 Nobel Peace Prize.

Lance Dodes, M.D., Former Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Training and Supervising Analyst Emeritus, Boston Psychoanalytic Society and Institute.

Jennifer I. Downey, M.D., Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons.

George Drinka, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Oregon Health Sciences University, Former Medical Director, CPC Cedar Hills Hospital, Portland, Oregon.

Julian Fisher, M.D., Former Lecturer in Neurology, Harvard Medical School.

Justin Frank, M.D., Former Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine, Co-Director, Metropolitan Center for Object Relations, New York City.

Mindy T. Fullilove, M.D., Professor Emerita of Urban Policy and Health, The New School.

Nanette Gartrell, M.D., Former Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Former Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.

Prudence L. Gourguechon, M.D., Past President, American Psychoanalytic Association.

Gordan P. Harper, M.D., Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

Ira Helfand, M.D., Former Chair of Emergency Medicine, Cooley-Dickinson Hospital, International Steering Group, The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, Recipient of the 2017 Nobel Peace Prize.

Julia C. Hoigaard, Ph.D., Former Lecturer in Psychology, University of California, Irvine, Co-author of Gottschalk- Gleser Content Analysis Scales.

Howard Hu, M.D., M.P.H., Sc.D., Professor of Population and Public Health Sciences, Keck School of Medicine of USC, University of Southern California.

Jerome Kroll, M.D., Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry, University of Minnesota Medical School.

Robert S. Lawrence, M.D., Professor Emeritus, Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Former Chief of Medicine, Cambridge City Hospital, now known as The Cambridge Health Alliance.

Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div., President, World Mental Health Coalition (Washington, DC), Co-Founder, Preventing Violence Now (New York), Former Faculty of Social Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Former Faculty of Psychiatry, Yale School of Medicine.

Rosanne M. Leipzig, M.D., Ph.D., Professor Emerita of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine, Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai.

Craig Malkin, Ph.D., Lecturer in Psychology, Harvard Medical School, Former Chief Inpatient Psychologist, Cambridge City Hospital, now known as The Cambridge Health Alliance.

James R. Merikangas, M.D., Neuropsychiatrist and Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine.

Dee Mosbacher, M.D., Ph.D., Former Professor of Psychiatry, University of California, San Francisco.

Denis J. O'Keefe, Ph.D., L.C.S.W., Professor of Social Work, New York University, Past President, International Psychohistorical Association.

Jennifer C. Panning, Psy.D., Founder, Mindful Psychology Associates (Evanston, IL).

John O. Pastore, M.D., Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine, Former Research Physician, Atomic Bomb Casualty Commission, Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

Mark Peppercorn, M.D., Professor of Medicine Emeritus, Harvard Medical School.

Claire Pouncey, M.D., Ph.D., Former President, Association for the Advancement of Philosophy and Psychiatry.

Robert C. Rutherford, M.D. M.P.H., Emergency Physician, Former Director, Monroe County Health Department, Florida.

Larry S. Sandberg, M.D., Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Weill Cornell Medical Center.

Stephen Soldz, Ph.D., Professor, Boston Graduate School of Psychoanalysis, Former President, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Co-Founder, Coalition for an Ethical Psychology.

Lise Van Susteren, M.D., Associate Clinical Professor of Psychiatry, George Washington University School of Medicine, Consultant Profiler to the Executive Branch, Federal Government.

Michael J. Tansey, Ph.D., Former Assistant Clinical Professor of Psychology, Northwestern University Medical School.

Mark W. Weber, Ph.D., L.I.C.S.W., Former Lecturer in Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School.

John Zinner, M.D., Clinical Professor Emeritus of Psychiatry and Behavioral Science, George Washington University Medical Center, Former Head of Family Therapy Studies, National Institute of Mental Health.

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