President Joe Biden’s physician insisted his health is “excellent” when he was confronted by reporters on the White House driveway.
The elusive Dr. Kevin O’Connor gave a baffling response at first when a New York Post reporter asked him Thursday, “Are you Dr. O’Connor?”
“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he replied before confirming that he was, as seen in what is notably the first time he’s been interviewed on video.
“How’s the president’s health?” The Post reporter asked.
“It’s excellent,” O’Connor, a former US Army medic, said with a smile as he continued walking.
“O’Connor, known to Biden and others around 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,” Daily Mail reported. “The elusive doctor has never given an interview or press conference since Biden took office in January 2021, or even before that, and rarely makes statements.”
As O’Connor continued his way toward the White House, maneuvering past the press briefing room, he was asked, “Are you going to come to the briefing room to address us?”
“Probably not,” he told The Post reporter who then pressed, “Could that change before the end of his term?”
“I hope not,” O’Connor replied, coming to an area of the driveway north of the West Wing that had been blocked off due to the arrival of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu at the White House.
“And how is his mental cognition?” the reporter asked about Biden.
“It’s excellent,” the doctor responded with a smile as The Post reporter then pressed, “Is there a reason you didn’t perform a cognitive test on him?”
“We don’t need to. He’s here every day,” O’Connor replied.
“Dr. O’Connor, is there anything to that speculation that there might be something related to Parkinson’s that he has?” the reporter asked.
“No,” the doctor said. “No, he’s good.”
“And the [Parkinson’s] specialist’s visits to the White House, did that have anything to do with that concern?” The Post reporter asked, referring to the White House visits by Parkinson’s specialist Kevin Cannard from 2023 to 2024.
“No,” O’Connor said. “He’s seen him three times, my letter was clear.”
In that letter, O’Connor had noted that Cannard “was the neurological specialist that examined President Biden for each of his annual physicals.”
“President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical,” the letter had stated.
