From PBS NewsHour.
President Donald Trump revealed that Florida Rep. Neal Dunn had received a short-term terminal diagnosis in wide-ranging remarks Monday.
Ahead of a luncheon with Trump’s hand-picked Kennedy Center board at the White House, the president introduced House Speaker Mike Johnson and noted the difficulty of having a negligible majority in Congress.
"We had one man who was very ill. It looked like he wasn’t going to make it," Trump said, wondering aloud to Johnson if the public knew and if he should mention the name of the lawmaker. "Go ahead, tell them, tell them the story."
Prompted by Trump, Johnson discussed the lawmaker’s “very serious” health challenges, which haven’t been made fully public before.
The president asked Johnson what the diagnosis was, adding, "He would be dead by June.”
“OK, that wasn’t public,” Johnson said. “It was grim. That’s what I was going to say.”
Trump also noted Dunn had a heart condition.
Johnson explained how Trump introduced the lawmaker to White House doctors and said the resulting treatment helped give Dunn a “new lease on life.”
The president said the terminal diagnosis was "bad" both because he liked the man and because "I needed his vote." Trump also said Dunn had vowed to keep working, and to advance Trump’s agenda.
"He said, ‘Mike, I’m gonna last this out for the president and you, and however long I live, I mean, it looks like June is the time, but however long I live, I’m going to be voting for you.’ I mean, how many people are gonna say that?"
Watch PBS News for daily, breaking and live news, plus special coverage. We are home to PBS News Hour, ranked the most credible and objective TV news show.
Sign up for Here’s The Deal with Lisa Desjardins: https://to.pbs.org/41q6E8i
Subscribe for exclusive content in our newsletters: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/subscribe
PBS News podcasts: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/podcasts
Stream your PBS favorites with the PBS app: https://to.pbs.org/2Jb8twG
Find more from PBS News at https://www.pbs.org/newshour
Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://bit.ly/2HfsCD6
Follow us:
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@pbsnews
X: http://www.twitter.com/newshour
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/newshour
Facebook: http://www.pbs.org/newshour
