The physician for President Joe Biden maintained Thursday that the president's overall health and mental fitness are both "excellent," the New York Post reported.
Further, Dr. Kevin O'Connor told the Post that it wasn't necessary to give Biden a cognitive test because "he's here every day."
O'Connor's comments, made to a Post reporter in the White House driveway as both walked near the press briefing room, came a day after Biden's prime-time national address regarding his exit from the presidential race. Biden officially dropped out Sunday via a post to social media.
Speculation about Biden's health — especially cognitive — escalated in the days and weeks following his performance in a June 27 presidential debate with Republican nominee Donald Trump. Subsequent TV interviews and a NATO speech only fueled the fire as Biden struggled with names, mix-and-matching topics, and completing thoughts.
Then it came out earlier this month that an expert on Parkinson's disease visited with O'Connor eight times over the summer of 2023. But O'Connor dismissed that Thursday, telling the Post that Biden is "good" and that "he's seen him three times, my letter was clear."
O'Connor was referring to his letter of July 8, detailing that Parkinson's specialist Dr. Kevin Cannard was the neurologist who examined Biden for each of his annual physicals. O'Connor's letter repeated his Feb. 28 report that Dr. Cannard found nothing that would suggest Biden suffered a stroke or had Parkinson's.
But that did little to quell the speculation.
World-renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Joseph Maroon told Newsmax on July 12 that Biden "clearly has several neurological problems," adding that missing from O'Connor's report "was any imaging of his brain."
"There's no neuroimaging mentioned. They mentioned the spine, but not the brain. And I think that's where, that plus neurocognitive testing, are really critical to determine is there brain atrophy, is there any hydrocephalus? Are there any other injuries or problems with the hippocampus, the memory problems of the brain in the temporal lobe? So, all of this is missing, in my opinion, from the report that Dr. O'Connor presented publicly," Dr. Maroon said.
Mark Swanson ✉
Mark Swanson, a Newsmax writer and editor, has nearly three decades of experience covering news, culture and politics.
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