Joe Biden’s doctor gave a baffling response when asked if he was the president’s doctor after being ambushed on the White House lawn.
Kevin O’Connor was walking through the entrance trying to get around the blockades of anti-Israel protesters when reporters asked him if he was the president’s doctor.
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” O’Connor replied as she walked briskly toward the White House.
The former US Army doctor later said Biden’s health and mental cognition were “excellent” and that he saw no need to give the president a cognitive test.
O’Connor, known to Biden and others in the White House simply as “Doc,” has been a part of the president’s life for more than a decade and was a central figure to the family when Biden’s son, Beau, was dying of cancer.
Joe Biden’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, said Biden’s mental health and cognition were “excellent” and that he saw no need to give the president a cognitive test.
He responded with very few words on Thursday as he tried to figure out how to get past heightened security during a visit by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The elusive doctor has never given an interview or a news conference since Biden took office in January 2021, or even before that, and rarely makes statements.
When we face the The New York Post on Thursday and asked if he was Biden’s doctor, he initially replied “I don’t know. I don’t know” before confirming that he was.
Smiling as he said “It’s excellent” when asked how Biden’s health was, he later added that he would “probably not” brief the press on it.
“I hope not,” O’Connor said when asked if that could change before Biden’s term ends in January.
The reporter asked: “Is there a reason why he wasn’t given a cognitive test?”, to which O’Connor replied: “There’s no need. He’s here every day.”
O’Connor said there was no truth to speculation that the president was suffering from Parkinson’s disease, insisting: “No, he’s fine.”
Biden walks along the White House Colonnade with O’Connor in August 2023
He also denied that visits to the White House by Parkinson’s specialist Kevin Cannard had anything to do with concerns that Biden might have the condition.
“He’s seen him three times, my letter was clear,” he said, referring to two weeks ago when he explained that Cannard only saw Biden for annual physicals.
“Dr. Cannard was the neurological specialist who examined President Biden at each of his annual physical examinations,” he wrote in the letter.
“President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical.”
Cannard visited the White House residential clinic eight times between July 2023 and March 2024, and met with Megan Nasworthy, who coordinates health checks for the presidential family, seven of those times.
O’Connor has never given an interview or news conference since Biden took office in January 2021, or even before that, and rarely makes statements.
His eighth visit was to speak with O’Connor and Dr. John Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, where Cannard also works.
“Prior to the pandemic and after its end, he conducted regular neurological clinics at the White House Medical Clinic in support of the thousands of active duty service members assigned to support White House operations,” O’Connor wrote.
‘Many military personnel experience neurological problems related to their service, and Dr. Cannard regularly visits WHMU as part of his general neurology practice.’
Speculation about Biden’s health increased after his disastrous performance in the June 27 debate against Donald Trump while battling a bad cold.
Subsequent public events did not allay concerns and on Sunday he dropped out of the race but vowed to remain in office until his term ended.
President Joe Biden, in a speech from the Oval Office, revealed why he decided to resign as the Democratic candidate
Doctors who watched Biden’s address to the nation on Wednesday night He noted that the speech was relatively short – just 11 minutes – and that the president read exclusively from a teleprompter,
This made it difficult to make a definitive assessment of his mental and physical well-being.
Dr. Ernst von Schwarz, a cardiologist in California, said Biden’s “dry mouth, staring, very few… hand movements and gestures… could be signs of cognitive decline” caused by his age, or “a neurodegenerative condition” such as dementia.
But it could also be due to the medication, the doctor told DailyMail.com.