President Donald Trump has revealed how he got a bruise on his left hand after he 'clipped it on the table' in Davos - while hinting at his intention to serve a 'fourth term.'
The president said on Air Force One that he received the large purple bruise at the Board of Peace event in Switzerland and was doing 'very good.'
'I clipped it on the table, so I put a little - what do they call it - cream on it, but I clipped it,' Trump told reporters en route to Washington DC on Thursday.
He then appeared to blame the noticeable bruise on aspirin he was taking.
'I would say take aspirin if you like your heart, don't take aspirin if you don't want to have a little bruising,' Trump advised, noting that he takes the 'big aspirin.'
'And when you take the big aspirin, they tell you, you'll bruise,' he continued.
'The doctor said, "You don't have to take that, sir, you're very healthy,"' Trump then claimed. 'I said, "I'm not taking any chances."'
'But that's one of the side effects of taking aspirin.'
Trump is apparently unconcerned about his health as he alluded to a potential 'fourth term' as president after praising the progress in his second.
In an astonishing climbdown after weeks of escalating threats about taking over Greenland, Trump announced a ‘framework of a future deal’ that would settle the issue of the semi-autonomous territory of Denmark.
News of the deal came as Trump backed off tariff threats against Europe and ruled out taking Greenland by force, following fears of a retaliatory 'trade bazooka' from his allies.
'Record numbers all over the place!' Trump said in an all-caps post on Truth Social. 'Should I try for a fourth term?'
The president has already teased a potential run in 2028, for what would be a third term in the White House.
However, presidents are term-limited to two four-year stints by the Constitution.
Trump has also previously falsely claimed that a hypothetical 'third term' would actually be his 'fourth term' - because 'the 2020 election was totally rigged', he told reporters last year.
He has long pushed the false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud.
The purple contusion suffered by Trump was seen on his left hand - not the one normally covered with makeup to conceal the discoloration of a bruise.
Trump did not appear to have the bruise at the start of the event, according to images, which showed the discoloration appeared later on.
The president has previously told the Wall Street Journal that he bruises easily because he is defying doctors by taking higher-than-recommended daily doses of aspirin to keep his blood thin.
But Trump was also diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, which can also increase chances of bruising.
The diagnosis appeared to swell his lower legs and ankles, causing him to have a brief stint wearing compression socks. But he stopped wearing them because he didn't like the socks, according to the Journal report.
He said he is dosing more aspirin than his doctors recommend because 'I'm a little superstitious.'
'They say aspirin is good for thinning out the blood, and I don't want thick blood pouring through my heart,' Trump went on. 'I want nice, thin blood pouring through my heart. Does that make sense?'
Instead of listening to medical advice, the 79-year-old is defying doctors' orders and relying on what he calls his 'good genetics.'
Trump is taking 325 milligrams per day, which he says he's been dosing for 25 years. He admitted that doctors have encouraged him to take a lower dosage of aspirin.
A low dose is usually approximately 81 milligrams, according to the Mayo Clinic.
Taking higher dosages of aspirin can significantly increase the severity of side effects, including more serious ones like internal bleeding in the stomach, intestines and brain – especially in older patients. But the biggest benefit is potentially avoiding a heart attack by keeping blood thinner so the flow is stronger.
The thinned blood also stops blood cells from clumping together to form clots, which slows the body's ability to stop bleeding from broken capillaries and leading to more noticeable and larger bruising.
At the age of 79, Trump is the oldest person to be elected and serve as US president.
His right hand is often pictured with a glob of cover-up makeup that Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt has confirmed is concealing bruising.
She claimed it was the result of the president regularly shaking people's hands.
Just hours after Trump's explosive speech in Davos, Switzerland at the World Economic Forum (WEF), Europe breathed a collective sigh of relief when he announced a major U-turn on Greenland.
After a 'very productive' meeting with Nato secretary general Mark Rutte , Trump dropped the threat of tariffs on European countries who opposed his plan to purchase Greenland, and announced a deal on Arctic security.
It was a dramatic reversal shortly after he insisted he wanted to get the island 'including right, title and ownership'.
Trump said 'additional discussions' on Greenland were being held concerning the Golden Dome missile defense program, a multilayered, $175 billion system that for the first time will put US weapons in space.
EU chief Ursula von der Leyen praised Europe for 'being firm' against the president, amid the biggest rupture in transatlantic ties in decades.
But tensions erupted again on Thursday after Trump claimed Nato troops stayed away from the frontline in Afghanistan, in a fresh barb against his European allies.
In an interview with Fox News, the president said: 'I've always said, will they be there if we ever needed them? That's really the ultimate test, and I'm not sure of that.'
'We've never needed them,' he said. 'They'll say they sent some troops to Afghanistan ... and they did, they stayed a little back, a little off the frontlines.'
Speaking in Davos on Wednesday, Trump made a similar swipe against the 32-member military alliance, saying: 'I know them all very well. I’m not sure that they’d be there. I know we’d be there for them. I don’t know that they would be there for us.'
The claims, however, overlook the fact that Nato member countries suffered hundreds of deaths during the Afghanistan war, triggered after the September 11 attack on the World Trade Centre in New York.
Britain alone lost 457 troops, while another 2,000 military and civilian personnel were wounded in action. France, Germany, Italy and Denmark also suffered many deaths.
The total number of deaths amongst the coalition forces – US, Britain and allies – totalled 3,486 in Afghanistan. Over 2,300 were members of the US armed forces.
Denmark lost 44 soldiers, proportionately more than any other ally apart from the US. They also lost personnel alongside American forces in Iraq, where 179 British Armed Forces personnel died.
Calvin Bailey, a Labour MP and former RAF officer who served alongside US special operations units in Afghanistan, said Trump’s claim 'bears no resemblance to the reality experienced by those of us who served there'.
Social care minister Stephen Kinnock said Trump's comments were 'deeply disappointing'.
He told Sky News: 'President Trump's comments are deeply disappointing. There is no other way to say that, I don't know really why he said them. I don't think there's any basis for him to make those comments.'
Trump unveiled his new 'Board of Peace' at Davos on Thursday, casting himself again as a global peacemaker despite widespread scepticism over a plan that aims to rewrite the global order.
Trump officials also unveiled ambitious plans for a 'New Gaza' during the ceremony at the WEF, with the president describing the devastated Palestinian territory as 'great real estate'.
The board was created after Trump expressed frustration at failing to win the Nobel Peace Prize and ramped up his accusations that the United Nations had failed to resolve a host of international conflicts.
'Well this is exciting,' Trump said as he was joined on stage by leaders and officials from 19 countries to sign the board's founding charter in the Swiss ski resort.
'This board has the chance to be one of the most consequential bodies ever created,' he said.
The body, of which Trump is the chairman, was initially designed to oversee the Gaza truce and the reconstruction of the strip after the war between Hamas and Israel.
But its purpose has since morphed into resolving all sorts of international conflicts, sparking concerns that Trump wants to create a rival to the UN.
Key US allies including France and Britain have expressed doubts.
Countries have been asked to pay $1 billion for permanent membership of the board, and the invitation for Putin, whose country invaded Ukraine in 2022, has drawn criticism.
Trump said the organisation would work 'in conjunction' with the UN.
