Donald Trump went to Kansas to defend Republican Sen. Roger Marshall against a damaging controversy involving hundreds of his former patients. But the president’s extraordinary explanation quickly ran into one major problem: The law he claimed forced Marshall to sue those patients doesn’t exist.
Speaking at a Monday evening campaign rally in Wichita, Trump insisted Marshall had been legally required to pursue unpaid medical bills, even suggesting the senator could have faced criminal prosecution if he refused.
Here is Trump’s full statement:
And I have to say this. Somebody said, “No, don’t say it, nobody believes it,” but I have to say it because think it’s appropriate. Roger was given a real — I know the guy. He’s one of the — he’s a tough guy and all, but he’s an also high quality and he’s a fine person.
And he was given a bum wrap, because he was mandated by law to request — strongly — money owed from patients. You’re not allowed not to do it. You have to, by law, go after those people. And they made it like, “Oh, he was some kind of a Shylock type guy.”
And if he didn’t make these requests, he would be breaking the law. He would have been breaking a very strong criminal law, and he would be subject to criminal arrest and liability.
And he didn’t do it. He has the law firm that did it. I don’t know what they did, they were probably tough, but they were mandated to be tough by the law. And they gave him a bum wrap. So I don’t know if I should be saying it, but that’s the way it is, Roger. I have to tell it like it is. You got screwed with that stuff.
And the other thing he had somebody — again he had to collect — a judge ordering a patient’s arrest. A judge ordered a patient’s arrest for not showing up to court. Many, many times a patient just refused, on a routine court case to settle it up. And the judge was very tough. And that’s the way it is. It’s the judge. He didn’t make — he didn’t do it. The judge was very tough because the judge and it wasn’t really even the judge’s fault. The judge was mandated to be this way and it has to do with the federal government and it has to do with the collection of money for the federal government. And that man did nothing wrong. So I just want to set the record straight.
Marshall, who worked as an obstetrician-gynecologist for more than 25 years, sued over 700 former patients for unpaid medical bills, according to court records reviewed by The New York Times. The collection cases resulted in 81 patients being arrested after failing to appear in court.
But Trump’s defense was factually wrong.
The Kansas City Star rated his claims “False,” reporting that no federal or state law requires doctors to sue patients over unpaid medical debt. There is also no law requiring debt collectors to seek arrest warrants when defendants fail to appear in court.
Trump’s use of “Shylock” added another controversy to his remarks. The term, drawn from Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, has a history as an antisemitic slur.
The medical-debt scandal has become a major issue in Marshall’s reelection campaign, with Democratic challenger Adam Hamilton highlighting the lawsuits against financially struggling patients.
Trump tried to portray Marshall as a victim of an unavoidable legal obligation. But the court records and fact-check tell a different story: Hundreds of former patients faced lawsuits, dozens were arrested in connection with those proceedings, and the president’s claim that the law required Marshall to pursue them was false.
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