Top White House Economic Aide Larry Kudlow Has Heart Attack, Trump Says

By Sarah McCammon / NPR

Published June 11, 2018 at 3:45 PM PDT

This story was published more than 6 years ago.

White House chief economic adviser Larry Kudlow speaks during a television interview outside the West Wing of the White House on May 18. President Trump tweeted that Kudlow suffered a heart attack and is hospitalized at Walter Reed Medical Center.

Updated at 10:30 p.m. ET

President Trump says his chief economic adviser, Larry Kudlow, has suffered a heart attack and is being hospitalized.

Minutes before he began a one-on-one meeting in Singapore with North Korea's Kim Jong Un, Trump tweeted, "Our Great Larry Kudlow, who has been working so hard on trade and the economy, has just suffered a heart attack. He is now in Walter Reed Medical Center."

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White House press secretary Sarah Sanders says Kudlow is in good condition at the hospital and that "his doctors expect he will make a full and speedy recovery."

"The President and his Administration send their thoughts and prayers to Larry and his family," Sanders says in a statement.

Kudlow, 70, is the director of the National Economic Council. He recently returned from the G-7 summit in Canada, where Trump found himself at odds with U.S. allies over his decision to impose steel and aluminum tariffs.

On CNN's State of the Union on Sunday, Kudlow defended the president after Trump took the extraordinary step of refusing to back a joint communique issued by the other G-7 leaders. Trump also attacked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau as "dishonest and weak" on Twitter after Trudeau reiterated his intention to retaliate against the U.S. tariffs.

Kudlow said the president had to show strength heading into the North Korea summit, and that he "is not going to let a Canadian prime minister push him around."

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Kudlow's hospitalization comes amid a critical meeting for Trump, who is hoping the summit in Singapore will be the first step toward persuading North Korea to denuclearize.

According to the president's tweet, Kudlow is at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., a suburb of Washington, D.C. First lady Melania Trump recently was hospitalized there for nearly a week after undergoing a procedure to treat a kidney condition.

Kudlow's wife, Judith Kudlow, told The Washington Post Monday evening that her husband is "doing fine" and recovering.