President Joe Biden saw neurologist at White House for Jan. 17 exam, press secretary says

WASHINGTON — President Joe Biden On Jan. 17, he visited a White House neurologist for a neurological exam, the results of which were released more than a month later during his annual medical exam, the White House said Tuesday.

The confirmation came after White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre incorrectly said during the daily briefing with reporters that the January 17 meeting had nothing to do with care for the president in response to a question from the Associated Press.

The AP had asked whether a meeting reported in White House visitor logs between noted neurology expert Dr. Kevin Cannard and Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s personal physician, was about the president himself. It was the only meeting between the two men, according to the logs, that was reported between July 2023 and last March — a period that has come under scrutiny because Cannard visited the White House eight times during that period.

“Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to clarify that the meeting on January 17 between Dr. O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the President’s physical examination,” Jean-Pierre said in a statement to the AP on Tuesday. “It was one of three times the President has seen Dr. Cannard, each time for his physical examination. The findings of each examination have been made public.”

This statement is not the first time in the days following Biden’s debate debacle – which led to a new round of worries about the 81-year-old president’s fitness to serve — that the White House was later required to clarify in responses to questions about the president’s health.

Last week, Jean-Pierre said Biden “had not been examined by a doctor” for a cold that was noticed during the June 27 debate. But Biden later said in a private meeting with Democratic governors that he had been examined by his doctor after the debate ended. Jean-Pierre said she meant that Biden had not undergone a full medical exam and that the president had indeed had a “check-in” with his doctor, which he does a few times a week.

And on Monday night, the White House released a statement from O’Connor detailing the nature of Cannard’s visits to the White House, after Jean-Pierre earlier in the day declined to confirm the name of the doctor or say why he was going to the White House. It also confirmed that Cannard was the neurologist who examined Biden during his three medical exams during his presidency. Jean-Pierre claimed Tuesday that “many of the things that I have said here in this briefing room” were later repeated in O’Connor’s letter from Monday night.

Still, Jean-Pierre said this week that she and other White House press officers “are doing our best to provide the information we have during this briefing.”

“I’ll be the first to admit: Sometimes I’m wrong. At least I admit that,” she said. “And sometimes I don’t have the information. And I will always, always admit that.”

Jean-Pierre’s explanation also shows how parts of the president’s annual medical exam, typically conducted at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, could be conducted over a longer period of time rather than just one day at the suburban Maryland hospital.

When O’Connor released the results of Biden’s physical exam on February 28, he wrote that “a very detailed neurological examination was again reassuring, as there were no findings consistent with a cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as a stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s disease, or ascending lateral sclerosis, nor were there any signs of cervical myelopathy.” The letter did not say when the neurological exam was performed or where it took place.

Cannard’s repeated appearance in the White House visitor logs also drew attention because of the doctor’s expertise in movement disorders such as Parkinson’s disease. But Jean-Pierre said definitively this week that Biden has not been treated for Parkinson’s disease, nor is he currently being treated or taking medication for it.

Cannard has been a neurology consultant to the White House Medical Unit for 12 years. O’Connor also said in a letter released Monday night that Cannard has conducted regular neurology clinics at the White House “in support of the thousands of active-duty members assigned to support White House operations.”