Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
Make a matched gift and support Jewish journalism. DONATE NOW
Fast Forward

Trump’s Ex-Doctor Says He Felt ‘Raped’ During Office Records Grab

President Trump’s ex-personal doctor of over 35 years spoke out on Tuesday about feeling “raped, frightened and sad” when Trump’s bodyguard and a lawyer barged into his office and seized the president’s medical records, NBC News reported.

The alleged incident took place in February 2017, days after Dr. Harold Bornstein told a newspaper that he had prescribed a hair growth medicine to the president — and Trump decided to dump him.

Trump’s personal bodyguard, a lawyer and an unidentified third man showed up at Bornstein’s Park Avenue office to collect the president’s records. Bornstein said he was instructed to take down a photograph he had hanging on the wall of him posing with Trump.

Bornstein reportedly stated that he was not given a form authorizing the release of the records and signed by the president —known as a HIPAA release — which is a violation of patient privacy law.

Trump cut ties with the gastroenterologist following the release of the information that Trump took Propecia, a prostate drug, for hair growth.

Bornstein said he is speaking out now following the news of White House doctor Ronny Jackson being fired for allegedly loosely handing out pain medications.

“I couldn’t believe anybody was making a big deal out of a drug to grow his hair that seemed to be so important,” Bornstein told NBC. “And it certainly was not a breach of medical trust to tell somebody they take Propecia to grow their hair. What’s the matter with that?”

This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.

We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.

This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.

With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.

The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.

Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines.
You must comply with the following:

  • Credit the Forward
  • Retain our pixel
  • Preserve our canonical link in Google search
  • Add a noindex tag in Google search

See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.