The White House on Monday night released a letter from President Biden’s doctor who sought to clarify why a neurologist with experience in Parkinson’s disease visited the White House several times.
The letter came after White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre had several heated exchanges with reporters earlier in the day about whether the administration has been transparent about Biden’s health.
Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, wrote that Dr. Kevin Cannard was the specialist who performed Biden’s neurological exam during each of his three annual physical exams, including the one performed in February. He added that Biden “has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical.”
“The results of this year’s examination were detailed in my letter of February 28th,” O’Connor said, citing the letter after the examination that said “an extremely detailed neurological examination was again reassuring as there were no results that were consistent with any cerebellar disorder or other central neurological disorder such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s, or lateral ascending sclerosis, nor are there signs of cervical myelopathy.”
O’Connor, in the letter, emphasized that Cannard’s general medical and military background, not his experience in movement disorders, was the reason he consulted Biden.
“Seeing patients at the White House is something Dr. Cannard has been doing for twelve years,” O’Connor said. “Dr. Cannard was chosen for this responsibility not because he is an expert in movement disorders, but because he is a highly trained and highly regarded neurologist here at Walter Reed and throughout the Military Health System, with a very broad experience that makes him flexible to see a variety of patients and problems.”
The letter was released hours after Jean-Pierre was bombarded with questions about why visitor logs showed Cannard had been to the White House eight times in an eight-month period, from last summer to this spring.
Jean-Pierre has repeatedly refused to go into details about the visits or whether Cannard was there to see the president, citing security and privacy concerns because more than 1,000 military personnel receive treatment from the White House medical unit.
Jean-Pierre told reporters on Monday that Biden has not been and is not being treated for Parkinson’s disease and is not taking medication to treat the disease. She said the president has seen a neurologist three times during his presidency, once during each of his three physical exams since taking office.
O’Connor’s letter reiterates what Jean-Pierre told reporters, that the White House typically does not release the names of the experts it works with. He said he got permission from Cannard to do so for the release of the letter on Monday night.
O’Connor went into detail about Cannard’s background, saying his “qualities make him a valuable and versatile consultant for evaluating and treating a wide variety of conditions.”
Questions about the president’s mental acuity and whether he can hold office for another four years have become common after his poor performance in the June 27 debate, when Biden spoke haltingly and often struggled to complete his train of thought. .
Biden’s debate performance sparked days of angst among Democrats over whether the president should give up another candidate, as some lawmakers questioned whether he could run a vigorous enough campaign to defeat former President Trump in November.
Biden has promised that he will not give up the race, dismissing calls for him to do so as the desires of party “elites” and not ordinary voters.
Records show that Cannard met in January with O’Connor, Biden’s White House physician, and cardiologist Dr. John Atwood at the White House residential clinic. Biden had his annual physical at Walter Reed on February 28.
The New York Times reported that Cannard made more than two dozen visits to the White House during the Obama administration, from 2012 to 2016. It is not known whether he visited the Trump White House because then-President Trump blocked the release of visitor records .
This story originally appeared on thehill.com read the full story
