WASHINGTON

US President Donald Trump disclosed, apparently by accident, on Monday that Florida Rep. Neal Dunn would have died within months due to a heart condition if he had not undergone surgery facilitated by the White House.

“He would be dead by June,” Trump said during a meeting with Kennedy Center board members at the White House, adding that the Florida lawmaker had been diagnosed with a “heart problem.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson, who appeared alongside Trump, said “that wasn’t public,” and said Dunn had faced a “terminal” diagnosis.

“It was very serious and he had a pretty grim diagnosis,” Johnson said. “I mentioned it to the president and I said, ‘Congressman Dunn is a real champion and patriot because he’s still coming to work, and if others got this diagnosis, they would be apt to go home and retire.’”

Trump said he helped facilitate the treatment partly because he liked Dunn and partly because Republicans needed his vote in the House.
“I did it for him first and for the vote second, but it was a close second, actually, but I did it for the vote second,” the US president said, making light of the razor-thin Republican hold on the House.

Dunn, 73, announced earlier this year that he will not seek re-election but plans to complete his current term. His office did not immediately comment.