As the calls grow for Donald Trump to release his medical records, Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris called out her opponent once more during a rally in Houston, Texas, on Friday. She pointed towards the legal battle of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other Texas right wing leaders to access the private medical records of patients who seek out-of-state abortions.
“Please do see the irony,” Harris said. “On the one hand, Donald Trump won’t let anyone see his medical records. I gave up mine! And on the other hand, they want to get their hands on your medical records.”
Soon after the Harris campaign released the Vice President’s medical report on Oct. 12, over 200 doctors and health care providers signed an open letter, calling on Trump to release his.
The letter, dated Oct. 13 and organized by the group Doctors for Harris, argued that the former President should have similar transparency “given his advancing age.”
“The American people deserve to have confidence in their elected officials’ mental and physical capacity to do the jobs they’ve elected them to do,” they wrote. “Trump ought to be going above and beyond to provide transparency on his physical health and mental acuity, given his advancing age.”
This issue has become more salient for Trump, ever since President Joe Biden, 81, dropped out of the presidential election on July 21, and Trump, 78, was left running against a then 59-year-old Harris.
Though it is often traditional for presidential candidates to share medical records, there’s no statute that requires Trump to release his records. According to Jeff Gulati, a political science professor at Bentley University in Waltham, Mass., the more that Trump refuses to do what Democrats are asking of him, the more his base supports him.
“It’s really just a matter of public opinion now, and he’s gotten away with not sharing it in two consecutive elections,” Gulati tells TIME. “So there’s just, you know, no real incentive for him to release them now.”
The most recent medical report publicly shared by Trump was featured in a Nov. 20, 2023, Truth Social post, which included a screenshot of a letter from Dr. Bruce Aronwald, sharing little detail but saying the former President was in “excellent health.”
In August, Trump said he would “gladly” share his medical records, but he has yet to do so. However, in October, when approached by reporters and asked about his medical records, Trump reportedly said the public already has enough information on his health.