White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre acknowledged on Tuesday that she was mistaken in her previous statement regarding neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease specialist, and his examination of President Joe Biden in January.
There has been speculation within the medical community that President Biden may suffer from Parkinson’s disease, especially after his poor performance in a recent debate against former President Donald Trump. The New York Post reported over the weekend that White House visitor logs showed Dr. Cannard visited the White House on January 17 and met with Biden’s presidential physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.
Dr. O’Connor released a letter on Monday night stating that Dr. Cannard had indeed examined President Biden during each of his annual physicals, including the most recent one, the results of which were made public in late February. The letter did not, however, explain why Dr. Cannard met with Dr. O’Connor on January 17.
During the White House news briefing on Tuesday, Associated Press reporter Seung Min Kim questioned Jean-Pierre about the letter, noting that it did not clearly describe the nature of Dr. Cannard’s meeting with Dr. O’Connor. Kim asked, “Can you say whether that one meeting was related to care for the president himself?”
Jean-Pierre initially responded, “I can say that it was not.”
However, later that evening, Jean-Pierre contacted Kim to correct her statement. She clarified in a statement to the AP, “Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the January 17 meeting between Dr. O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the president’s physical. 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.”
During a Monday news briefing, Jean-Pierre cited Biden’s February health summary, stating, “An extremely detailed neurological exam was again reassuring in that there 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.”
Jean-Pierre had a tense exchange with CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe during that briefing regarding Dr. Cannard’s eight visits to the White House grounds from August through March. When questioned about the nature of these visits, Jean-Pierre said she could not confirm if Dr. Cannard had visited or whom he had seen, citing privacy and security reasons.
O’Keefe specifically pressed about President Biden, to which Jean-Pierre gave the same response, prompting O’Keefe to insist, “That’s a very basic direct question. That much you should be able to answer by this point.”
Jean-Pierre replied, “We cannot share names of specialists, broadly.”
O’Keefe pointed out that Dr. Cannard’s name was already in the visitor logs and continued to seek answers.
Jean-Pierre responded, “Hold on a second. There’s no reason to go back and forth with me in this aggressive way.”
“Well, we’re a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps about [Biden],” O’Keefe retorted.