President Joe Biden’s doctor defended his overall health and cognitive function on Thursday after his evaluations of Biden became the subject of intense scrutiny following the president’s disastrous debate performance last month.
White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s longtime doctor and a friend of the Biden family, was briefly interviewed by the New York Post outside the White House and dismissed questions about Biden’s noticeable mental decline over his time in office.
“How’s the president’s health?” a Post reporter asked.
“It’s excellent,” O’Connor said.
“And how is his mental cognition?” the reporter asked.
“It’s excellent,” he replied.
O’Connor later dismissed the idea of giving Biden a cognitive test and the speculation about the possibility of the president having Parkinson’s disease. A Parkinson’s expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, met O’Connor earlier this year, a visit that drew scrutiny after Biden’s debate performance. After White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre faced a barrage of questions on the subject, O’Connor said on July 8 that Cannard examined Biden for each of his annual physicals.
O’Connor’s annual physicals and his close ties to the Biden family received fresh attention because of Biden’s cognitive state at the debate. Joe Biden’s brother Jim testified earlier this year that O’Connor helped him arrange a meeting for his distressed health-care company, Americore, and internal Americore documents obtained by Politico indicate that O’Connor was involved with another Americore meeting.
Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race on Sunday, caving to a Democratic Party revolt over his mental decline and the role it played in faltering poll numbers in the wake of the debate. He immediately endorsed Vice President Kamala Harris, who is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Throughout the debate, Biden stumbled over his words, whispered into the microphone, lost trains of thought, and looked confused. His condition at the debate immediately drew panic from Democrats and kicked off a weeks-long public and private push for him to step aside from the presidential race.
Biden delivered a national address Wednesday night on his choice to drop out, portraying it as a transition to a new generation instead of a submission to an increasingly public Democratic revolt. The speech did not touch on the pressure campaign from Democrats that caused him to eventually drop out after weeks of resistance.
Jean-Pierre, speaking to reporters Thursday, repeatedly deferred to Biden’s speech instead of discussing the reasons he quit the race. The day before, Jean-Pierre similarly sidestepped questions about Biden’s choice to drop out and insisted it did not have to do with his mental acuity.