Mental health expert slams Trump’s cognitive exam, calls for further testing

White House physician Ronny Jackson attested to the president's mental fitness during a long press conference with reporters earlier this week and explained how he aced a cognitive exam, but the results did not satisfy all experts.

In a USA Today op-ed published on Friday, Bandy Lee, an assistant clinical professor at Yale University, and Norman Eisen, who served as former President Obama’s ethics czar, claimed that the testing done was insufficient and insisted that more a "responsible, thorough and accurate assessment" should be done in order to truly measure the president's mental fitness.

The two say that the Montreal Cognitive Assessment, the test that the president was subjected to, is only meant to serve as a basic screening test "to determine whether additional testing is needed for cognitive or Alzheimer’s issues."

Lee and Eisen say in the opinion piece that there are "ample indicators that additional testing" may be needed.

"Better tests for intricate frontal lobe function include the California Verbal Learning Test, the Stroop Test, the Wisconsin Card Sorting Test and others. An MRI or PET scan would also have been helpful," they write.

Besides the neurological exams, the two argue for a psychological assessment where “urgent concerns also lie.”

Dr. David Knopman, a Mayo Clinic neurologist, has also weighed in on the Montreal test, telling the Associated Press, “It’s not considered definitive. It’s ultimately only a first pass at cognition.”

However, Jackson said during a press briefing on Tuesday that based on the results, he has no cognitive concerns about Trump.

"The fact that the President got 30 out of 30 on that exam, I think that there's no indication whatsoever that he has any cognitive issues," Jackson said. "He's very sharp, and he's very articulate when he speaks to me. And I've never known him to repeat himself around me."