President Joe Biden is traveling the country to tout his record and raise money before a likely 2024 reelection announcement after his State of the Union address next month.
But amid Biden’s own classified documents controversy, the White House is being pressed to also be transparent about the president’s health since the oldest commander in chief would be 82 at his second inauguration should he secure another term next year.
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Biden’s 2022 physical examination slipping into 2023 has provided Republicans with more opportunities to criticize him for his age and health before an expected reelection bid.
For instance, Biden’s public missteps during the first two years of his presidency are “certainly” cause for concern, according to Rep. Scott DesJarlais (R-TN), a former family medicine practitioner before he was elected to Congress in 2010.
“I think it would be important to see a very thorough and comprehensive cognitive function study that is released with transparency to the general public,” DesJarlais told the Washington Examiner. “The American people want to know that their commander in chief is fully capable of performing at the highest level to protect the safety and security of our nation.”
Republicans, too, have connected complaints about delays with Biden’s physical examination to transparency ones stemming from the discovery of classified documents at his Washington, D.C., think tank last November, a development that was not made public until this month, days before Attorney General Merrick Garland appointed a special counsel to investigate the case.
“Seriously, where is Biden? No press interviews, the White House press secretary has no credibility left, and the administration dodges, deflects, and delays on matters that deserve full transparency,” one senior Republican official said. “The American people deserve better than the dishonesty and evasiveness of Biden.”
More broadly, “secrecy” about a president’s health “is more often the norm than one would think,” according to historian David Pietrusza. The author cited Grover Cleveland’s hushed-up cancer operation to Woodrow Wilson’s pre-White House stroke and impaired vision as examples.
“[Franklin Roosevelt’s] infirmity was, of course, downplayed to an immense extent,” Pietrusza said. “Following his ascension to the presidency, the efforts to disguise his paralysis had taken on truly remarkable lengths.”
Former President Donald Trump, more recently, was scrutinized for allegedly dictating a statement disseminated by his 2016 campaign about his 2015 physical examination.
“If elected, Mr. Trump, I can state unequivocally, will be the healthiest individual ever elected to the presidency,” Dr. Harold Bornstein, a gastroenterologist, wrote at the time.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has been asked about Biden’s physical examination six times this month. In response, Jean-Pierre has underscored Biden’s commitment to transparency, describing White House physician Kevin O’Connor’s 2021 memorandum regarding the president’s health as “very extensive.” O’Connor, Biden’s primary care physician for 13 years, has been questioned, in conjunction with the White House communications team, for not briefing reporters directly when the commander in chief had COVID-19 last summer.
“He will have one before the — by the time the end of this month is out,” Jean-Pierre told reporters of Biden’s physical examination. “He — we will share the information. We will have more to share about that before the month is over.”
Confusion about his physical examination has been exacerbated by Biden. First, the president told reporters last Thanksgiving that “part” of his annual checkup had been “already done” and that he would complete “it before the end of the year.” He also spent more than eight hours at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center this month when he accompanied first lady Jill Biden to the facility so she could have two cancerous skin lesions removed.
“If you watched the president in November, you saw that he had — he traveled to Indonesia, Cambodia, North Africa,” Jean-Pierre said during a separate briefing. “He traveled across the country. And so, he had a very hectic schedule.”
“I think that plays into what his doctors have said, right?” she added. “His doctor has said … he’s in good health, he’s in very good health, and that [he] leads an active life, as we saw in November and in December.”
Meanwhile, Joe Biden will be on the road this week to promote his $550 billion bipartisan infrastructure bill, stopping in Maryland, New York, and Pennsylvania, with fundraisers in New York City and Philadelphia. The itinerary is being perceived as a prelude to traditional post-State of the Union trips and an anticipated reelection launch.
The president disclosed his last physical on Nov. 19, 2021, updating health information he previously passed on in December 2019.
O’Connor’s six-page report detailed Joe Biden’s irregular heartbeat, high cholesterol, acid reflux, seasonal allergies, spinal arthritis, and a hot-cold sensation in both of his feet. For those issues, the president has been prescribed high blood pressure and blood thinner medications, supplemented by allergy medicine.
The president, too, underwent a routine colonoscopy and a neurologic assessment and had noncancerous skin growths removed, in addition to receiving a pair of orthotics and new contact lenses, according to O’Connor.
“Physical exam is fundamentally unchanged from baseline, with the notable exception of newly apparent findings consistent with mild peripheral neuropathy,” he wrote. “In up to 46% of cases, especially when the symptoms are mild such as with this patient, specific causes are not identified.”
O’Connor had been worried about Joe Biden’s “increasing frequency and severity of ‘throat clearing’ and coughing,” as well as his “perceptibly stiffer and less fluid” way of walking.
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“This study directly confirmed esophageal reflux, possibly worsened by a mild hiatal hernia,” he wrote. “A combination of significant spinal arthritis, post-fracture ‘limp and compensation,’ and a mild sensory peripheral neuropathy of the feet are the explanation for the subtle gait changes.”
