The daughters of a Queens podiatrist claim their late father diagnosed President Donald Trump with bone spurs to help him dodge the Vietnam War draft as a favor to Trump’s father, Fred Trump, a New York Times report revealed.
Dr. Larry Braunstein, who died in 2007, would often tell stories of how he provided the younger Trump with the bone spurs diagnosis so that he would be exempt from military service, his daughters Dr. Elysa Braunstein and Sharon Kessel told the newspaper. Their father had rented his office in the Jamaica section of Queens, N.Y., from Fred Trump in the 1960s.
Donald Trump received four deferments for education prior to his bone spurs diagnosis in 1968. (Image courtesy of Fox News )
“It was family lore,” Elysa Braunstein said. “It was something we would always discuss.”
Though unsure whether her father had ever examined Donald Trump, Braunstein contended that her dad had given the 1968 diagnosis as a courtesy to the elder Trump — a courtesy that granted her father “access” to Fred Trump.
“I know it was a favor,” she said. “If there was anything wrong in the building, my dad would call and (Fred) Trump would take care of it immediately.
The Times was unable to find documents corroborating the sister’s accounts, and the White House has yet to respond to questions about the president’s service record.
Larry Braunstein’s daughters said it was always implied that Donald Trump did not really have a disqualifying foot ailment and that a second foot doctor, Dr. Manny Weinstein, who also rented from the Trumps, may have been in on the ruse.
According to the Times, Elysa Braunstein and Kessel said that their father “left no medical records with the family, and a doctor who’d purchased his practice said he was unaware of any documents related to Mr. Trump. Most detailed government medical records related to the draft no longer exist.”
Donald Trump had received four deferments for education prior to his bone spurs diagnosis at just 22 years old. The reasons for his last deferment remain unclear, however. In 2016, the ex-reality TV star told the Times that a doctor gave “me a letter — a very strong letter — on the heels” to give to draft officials, but said he couldn’t recall the doctor’s name.
“You are talking a lot of years,” Trump said at the time.
