CNN host Kasie Hunt raised questions about President Donald Trump’s health, only for the reporter who had just interviewed him to describe a president maintaining a demanding schedule. TIME’s Eric Cortellessa told Hunt that Trump still showed a high level of stamina. He pointed to the president’s travel and long working hours when asked about his condition. The answer came immediately after Hunt brought up Democrats’ allegations about Trump’s fitness for office.
The exchange aired October 2nd on CNN’s “The Arena with Kasie Hunt,” during a panel discussion about Trump’s latest TIME cover interview. Cortellessa had interviewed Trump at the White House on September 28th alongside TIME editor-in-chief Sam Jacobs. The conversation lasted 75 minutes. Hunt asked the reporter to compare his latest encounter with earlier interviews, giving him an opportunity to describe what he’d observed in person.
Before turning to Trump’s health, Hunt asked whether the president had sounded as angry in the room as his complaints about negative questions appeared in print. Cortellessa tempered that description. “Probably not, no. I don’t think it was as dramatic in the room as it might read on the page,” he said. He described Trump’s remarks as a familiar expression of frustration with press coverage.
Hunt then shifted to Trump’s hearing and the allegations being made by his political opponents. As BizPac Review reported, she said, “Eric, one thing too that stuck out to me is that there seemed to be times in the interview where he had struggled to hear you, to hear the question.” She followed that observation by introducing a broader claim, saying, “there are, of course, a lot of Democrats that are already making allegations about his health and fitness for office.”
Hunt asked Cortellessa to assess the president’s energy and behavior based on his own access to Trump. “How do you view his overall kind of stamina and demeanor now, since you have been able to observe him over the last year or so?” she asked. She had earlier mentioned his interviews with Trump in April and October 2025. “Well, I do think he maintains a very high level of stamina,” Cortellessa replied. He pointed to the president’s activity beyond the interview room. “He’s traveling all across the country. He doesn’t sleep a lot,” the reporter said.
Cortellessa continued, “He works from, you know, the wee hours of the morning to late at night.” He addressed whether that endurance had changed, saying, “his stamina seems to be just as high as it’s been.” In the longer broadcast discussion, Cortellessa also described Trump as more subdued in some respects. He discussed the president’s attitude toward the midterms and the possibility of congressional investigations if Democrats won control.
Watch Hunt’s question and Cortellessa’s response here:
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Trump’s complaints about media coverage also appeared in TIME’s published interview transcript. He accused the interviewers of concentrating on negative subjects. “You haven’t asked me one f—ing positive question,” Trump said. Earlier, when a question concerned press access to the White House, he asked the interviewer to raise his voice: “No, but say it a little louder.”
The president had also outlined additional travel days before Hunt’s broadcast. Speaking outside the White House on September 29th, Trump announced plans for a 32-day campaign tour ahead of the November 3rd midterm elections, with Texas and Ohio among the stops, Reuters reported. He said Republican candidates were requesting his help on the campaign trail. “They all want me to go campaign,” Trump said.
Featured image credit: screengrab from the embedded video.