Donald Trump again boasts of acing 'very hard' cognitive test and claims he was awarded 'extra points'

Kit Heren23 July 2020

Donald Trump has again boasted about acing a cognitive test, speaking of his "amazing" memory and even claiming he was awarded "extra points".

Mr Trump first brought up the test in an interview with Fox News anchor Chris Wallace, and was mocked online after Mr Wallace told him it was not too difficult.

He came back to the issue again unprompted on Wednesday with Fox contributor Marc Siegel, and called for presidential rival Joe Biden to take the test to prove his fitness for the role.

The president said: "They give you 35 questions. The first questions are very easy. The last questions are much more difficult.

"Like a memory question, it would go, like you'll go 'person, woman, man, camera, TV.'

"So they say 'could you repeat that'. So I said yeah. So it's 'person, woman, man, camera, TV'. 'OK, that's very good.' If you get it in order you get extra points."

Mr Trump then explained the rules further to Mr Siegel, adding: "You go back, 20, 25 minutes later, and they say go back to that question, and repeat it. Can you do it. And you go 'person, woman, man, camera, TV.'

"They say, that's amazing - how did you do that?"

Mr Trump, 74, said that his good results are because he has "a good memory" and is "cognitively there".

And he urged presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Mr Biden, 77, to take the test to prove his health too.

Joe Biden 
Getty Images file

He said: "Because something's going on. And I say this with respect; it'll probably happen to all of us, right? It's going to happen.

"We can't take a chance with that happening - when you are dealing with Russia, with China - nobody's been tougher on China than me, I can tell you that. They'd love to see Joe Biden rather than Trump."

Mr Biden's medical records go against Mr Trump's claims that his health is failing. His doctor called him in December a "healthy, vigorous, 77-year-old male… fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency."

It is unclear which test Mr Trump is referring to, but it may be the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, which is meant to look at people's mental abilities and memory.