U.S. President, Joe Biden was seen by neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard, who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, at the White House on January 17, the White House has confirmed, after press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters the opposite on Monday.
The clarification on Wednesday, July 10, came just a day after Jean-Pierre (pictured top left) scolded a journalist who questioned her over providing misleading information about whether Biden, 81, had been medically evaluated after his catastrophic June 27 debate performance, which triggered Democratic party calls for him to step aside.
“Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the Jan. 17 meeting between [presidential physician] Dr. [Kevin] O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the president’s physical,” Jean-Pierre told the Associated Press, whose reporter had asked Jean-Pierre about Cannard’s meeting with O’Connor.
“It was one of the three times the president has seen Dr. Cannard, each time for his physical. The findings from each exam have been released to the public,” Jean-Pierre said.
Earlier, On Tuesday, the AP’s Seung Min Kim asked Jean-Pierre, “Can you say whether that one meeting [between Cannard and O’Connor] was related to care for the president himself?”
Jean-Pierre replied, “I can say that it was not.”
Cannard visited the White House eight times between July last year and March this year, for what O’Connor suggested in a Monday night letter was the treatment of military members — even though his visits were to the residence clinic in the White House basement, according to public visitor logs, rather than to a separate and larger medical facility in the adjacent Eisenhower Executive Office Building.
Cannard’s findings after evaluating Biden were included in a physical report released by O’Connor on Feb. 28, which said the president was evaluated during an “extremely detailed neurologic exam.”
“[T]here were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy,” the report said.