A top Washington D.C. neurologist specializing in Parkinson’s disease met with President Biden’s personal doctor at the White House earlier this year, according to visitor logs reviewed by The Post. Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease expert at Walter Reed Medical Center, met with Dr. Kevin O’Connor and two others at the White House residence clinic on January 17. This meeting comes amid ongoing questions about the 81-year-old president’s mental health following his recent debate performance against former President Trump.
Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed, was also present at the 5 P.M. meeting, as indicated by the White House visitor logs. The fourth person in the meeting has not been identified. On that day, President Biden was at the White House and hosted House and Senate leaders to discuss additional funding for Ukraine, according to his official schedule.
Cannard, who has worked at Walter Reed for nearly 20 years, is an authority on Parkinson’s disease. Since 2012, he has served as the “neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit,” according to his LinkedIn profile. His most recent paper, published in August 2023 in the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders, focuses on the early stages of the disease.
Given that Biden’s health is O’Connor’s primary responsibility, it is highly probable that the meeting was about the president, according to Rep. Ronny Jackson (R-Tx), who served as the doctor for both Presidents Obama and Trump. “It’s highly likely they were talking about Biden,” Jackson told The Post. “He should only be [regularly] treating the president and the first family.”
O’Connor has been Biden’s official physician since he took office in January 2021 and is in daily contact with the president. His most important job every day is saying “Good morning, Mr. President,” to get the commander-in-chief off on the right track, he told a trade publication in March.
President Biden’s poor performance in the first 2024 presidential debate has left even some Democrats unsure of his fitness for office and future as the party’s candidate. Former President Obama admitted that Biden had a “bad” debate, while his rival former President Trump suggested that he was in a “trance” and “choked.” Biden told a crowd at a North Carolina rally the day after the debate that he doesn’t “debate as well as I used to” but insisted that he can still “do this job.”
The New York Times editorial board called on the president to serve the country by dropping out of the race. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution published a similar editorial a day later. Biden gathered with his family to assess the campaign’s future at Camp David, with his son Hunter reportedly pushing for him to stay in the race. Family members questioned if the president’s top advisors should be fired after the disastrous debate.
Legendary journalist Carl Bernstein revealed that sources close to Biden have witnessed as many as 20 episodes of cognitive decline in the past year. Rep. Lloyd Doggett (D-Texas) became the first House Democrat to call on Biden to drop out.
O’Connor gave Biden a clean bill of health at his annual physical in February. The physical included a neurological exam which specifically ruled out Parkinson’s disease, O’Connor said at the time. On Friday, the White House said Biden had a post-debate, “verbal check-in” with O’Connor.
Jackson, who has never treated Biden, claimed the president’s doctor, along with the First Family, is trying to “cover-up” the diminishing cognitive health of the president. “I believe he and Jill Biden have led the cover up. Kevin O’Connor is like a son to Jill Biden — she loves him. It’s crazy. Kevin O’Connor was in that job on day one of the Biden administration because they knew they could trust Kevin to say and do anything that needed to be said or done and cover up whatever needed to be covered up. He is part of the Biden family,” Jackson said.
Jackson has for years warned that Biden’s mental health has been declining. After the disastrous June 27 debate, Jackson said it was evidence Biden was suffering from a “cognitive disease” and urged him to resign.
Dr. Rob Howard, a professor of old age psychiatry at University College London, said that President Biden displayed many symptoms indicative of Parkinson’s disease. The president’s “fluctuation in attentional function, his facial appearance, and his gait,” were all signs that something is amiss, said Howard, who has never examined Biden and added he was not offering a formal diagnosis. “I am not saying its Parkinson’s disease, I am just pointing out that there are features to him that are consistent with Parkinson’s disease.”
Sen. Roger Marshall (R-KS), who is a physician, said “many” in the medical community have “suspected for several years that the president might be suffering from Parkinson’s disease.” “Sadly, over 500,000 Americans are afflicted by this progressive neurological condition. If the president of the United States is among them, the American people deserve to know before voting in November,” he told The Post.
Cannard and Atwood declined to comment. “A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds,” according to a White House spokesman who refused to answer questions about who O’Connor, Cannard, and Atwood were meeting with.
Joe Biden’s personal physician met with a top neurologist at the White House, visitor logs show. Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s doctor, met with Parkinson’s specialist Dr. Kevin Cannard and two others on January 17, the New York Post reports. Cannard is a movement disorder specialist at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. He was joined by cardiologist Dr. John E. Atwood and another unidentified individual for the 5 pm meeting, according to the logs.
The disclosure comes amid mounting scrutiny over the president’s mental state following his car crash debate against rival Donald Trump. Biden, 81, has sought to quash rumors he is unfit to lead and still asserts he will run in the November election, but has refused to state whether he is undergoing regular, official cognitive tests. “Look, I have a cognitive test every single day,” Biden said when asked by ABC’s George Stephanopoulos on Friday, as he referred to the tasks he faces daily in a rigorous job. “Every day, I have that test. Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world.”
Records show the president was in the White House on the day of the medics’ January meeting, as it took place on the same day he hosted House and Senate leaders to convince them to back extra funding for Ukraine. Cannard has been in his position at the Walter Reed center for almost 20 years. He has served as “neurology specialist supporting the White House Medical Unit,” since 2012, according to his LinkedIn.
The White House refused to say if they met with Biden during the meeting, but the president was in D.C. at the time. The White House has declined to confirm if the doctors met with Biden, but O’Connor’s primary duty is to attend to the president and the first family. The doctor issued Biden a clean bill of health during an annual exam in February, which ruled out Parkinson’s, O’Connor said at the time. He became the president’s physician in 2021 and has contact with him every day. Following the debate, the White House said Biden had done a verbal “check-in” with his doctor.
But questions over his competency remain, especially after his first sit-down interview since the disastrous June 27 debate did little to assuage fears. Several Democrats had called for Biden to quit the race following the debate and they reiterated this wish after yesterday’s ABC interview. He accused the president and his wife of attempting to gloss over his state of mind. “I believe he and Jill Biden have led the cover up,” Jackson said. Cannard is a movement disorder specialist at the Walter Reed Medical Center in Maryland. “Kevin O’Connor is like a son to Jill Biden — she loves him. It’s crazy. Kevin O’Connor was in that job on day one of the Biden administration because they knew they could trust Kevin to say and do anything that needed to be said or done and cover up whatever needed to be covered up. He is part of the Biden family.”
O’Connor and Cannard refused to comment when approached by the New York Post. A White House spokesman also declined to comment on the nature of the meeting. “A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds,” he said.
Source: The New York Post, The Washington Examiner, The Daily Mail
