President Biden was seen by neurologist Kevin Cannard, who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, at the White House on Jan. 17, press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre admitted late Tuesday — hours after telling reporters the opposite at her regular briefing.
The clarification came just a day after Jean-Pierre scolded a journalist who pressed her for details on Cannard’s visit and pointed out she gave misleading information about whether Biden, 81, was medically evaluated after his catastrophic June 27 debate performance.
“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, which was first reported by The Post this past Saturday.
“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 amid Democratic calls for Biden to end his campaign for a second term
Earlier 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 in as many months between July last year and March this year for what O’Connor suggested in a Monday night letter was treating 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.
Jean-Pierre’s latest disclosure appears to push back the date for what the White House says was Biden’s most recent neurological exam — as doctors and politicians openly speculate about the president’s cognitive prognosis.