Queens Doctor Helped Trump Avoid Vietnam War, Report Says

QUEENS, NY — President Donald Trump avoided joining the millions of troops sent to Vietnam because he allegedly had bone spurs in his heels. But a Queens foot doctor who was a tenant of Trump's father may have given the president a phony diagnosis to help him avoid the draft, according to a new report.

Dr. Larry Braunstein reportedly rented office space beneath Jamaica's Edgerton Apartments, a complex owned by Fred Trump. The podiatrist often talked about how he diagnosed the young Donald Trump with bone spurs as a favor to his dad, implying the president did not have a foot condition to disqualify him from service, Braunstein's daughters told The New York Times.

"It was family lore," one of the daughters, Elysa Braunstein, told the paper. "It was something we would always discuss."

Braunstein's daughters reportedly said their father, who died in 2007, had left them no medical records. Trump has said he "ultimately" stayed out of the war because of a high draft lottery number, according to the Times.

Read the full New York Times story here.

(Lead image: President Donald Trump is seen in the Oval Office on Dec. 25, 2018. Photo by Jacquelyn Martin/Associated Press)