Politics
CNN’s Trump Hit Piece Crashes And Burns After ‘Expert’ Is Exposed As ‘Fake Doctor’
A CNN piece exploring “concerns” about President Donald Trump’s health collapsed on Tuesday when it was uncovered that the alleged physician who questioned his fitness is not actually a practicing doctor at all.
Chris Pernell, a “Health Equity” advisor for the national NAACP, gained national recognition after alleging that Trump’s diagnosis of chronic venous insufficiency is worse than the White House is making it appear. The condition is common in older adults and includes swelling in the veins, usually in the legs, as they struggle to send blood back to the heart due to damaged or weakened valves.
“It is a disease that is progressive,” Pernell told the outlet. “And what that means is that if there aren’t conservative treatments, elevation, compression, medication, if needed, to treat accompanying ulcers or skin changes, it can worsen and actually put a person at risk for deep venous thrombosis.”
She suggested that underlying co-morbidities in Trump’s life, including his diet and stress, may be worsening his condition.
“If a person is sitting or standing for prolonged amounts of time, you can get chronic venous insufficiency, and while it is not life-threatening, it can be debilitating,” she added. “You can develop ulcers in addition to skin discoloration. And if a person develops ulcers, you want to make sure those ulcers aren’t infected.”
Free Beacon reported that Pernell obtained her M.D. from Duke University School of Medicine but never appears to have practiced outside of her residency, calling into question her history of ever treating patients. A LinkedIn profile for Pernell states she completed her residency at Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, which largely focuses on epidemiology rather than individual patient treatment.
Following her training, Pernell took a job as “Chief Strategic Integration and Health Equity Officer” at University Hospital in Newark, New Jersey. While there, she claims to have drafted the first “equity and inclusion strategy,” hired the hospital’s first “director of equity and inclusion,” and instituted mandatory implicit bias and structural racism training.
Pernell has had run-ins with authority in the past, she revealed in a 2022 interview. Hospital leadership previously investigated her for social media posts critical of Trump and Republicans in general, including comparing vaccine skeptics to white supremacists.
She resigned from the role a month later, saying she was “forced out” amid a pressure campaign by colleagues and leadership at the institution.
“I have had an outpouring of physicians—in particular black physicians, black corporate executives, women generally, and people throughout the field of medicine and public health—stand up and say, ‘What happened to you, unfortunately, is a part of a pattern of abuse,'” Pernell said. “‘It is an abusive relationship between white power structures and black executives.'”
At the NAACP, Pernell states that her work is focused on “[driving] equitable health outcomes and [transforming] healthcare systems through a comprehensive socioeconomic approach valuing the whole person.”
She was invited by New Jersey lawmakers to participate in the 2025 New Jersey Reparations Council, where Pernell called for large-scale direct payments to black residents to address historic health disparities. She also advocated for noncitizen voting, ending deportations and cooperation with federal immigration authorities, and a new state agency that “would disproportionately serve to expand homeownership to Black New Jersey families.”
Outside of work, Pernell lists herself as an “apostle” of the Bet Hashem YHWH, a church founded by her brother, who has described Trump and white Evangelicals in Satanic terms on social media.
“White evangelicals call pedophile Trump, anointed, called, chosen, and appointed by Christ,” he wrote last week on Facebook. “They are SICK !!!!!! Trump is a pedophile and a rapist and an antichrist. White evangelicals have done the work of Satan and attempted to destroyed [sic] America.”
Pernell’s brother also accused Trump of sex crimes.
“White Evangelicals have been supporting and working with the Devil, Trump!” Timothy Pernell Jr. wrote. “Trump has raped and molested under aged White Girls and White Evangelicals knew this and still supported them!!!!”