An expert on Parkinson’s disease visited the White House eight times over an eight-month span between last July and March of this year, including one visit with the president’s personal physician, according to White House visitor logs. The doctor, Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist and “movement disorders specialist” who works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. According to the logs, prior to July 2023, he had visited the White House only once—in November 2022.
The White House would not confirm if he was advising on the president’s personal care, saying only in a statement, “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.” Asked repeatedly at Monday’s briefing, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to say if the neurologist ever treated the president or consulted on his care, citing privacy concerns, but did say Biden was not being treated for Parkinson’s disease.
ABC News Chief White House Correspondent Mary Bruce pressed Jean-Pierre on reporting about Cannard’s visit with the president’s personal physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor. “You’re refusing to say if he was here to evaluate the president or if he was consulting on the president’s health. So, what then was that meeting about?” Bruce asked. Jean-Pierre said she would not elaborate on the meeting “because we will not confirm or speak to names that you’re providing to me. It is out of security.”
As part of his annual physical exam, the president was evaluated by a neurologist who found no signs of Parkinson’s, according to a summary O’Connor released in February. “An extremely detailed neurologic 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, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy,” his report states.
Overall, the February report stated Biden, 81, continued to be “fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations.” Jean-Pierre repeatedly pointed to Biden’s three previous physicals during the press briefing and read aloud from the February report that said there were no findings that would be consistent with Parkinson’s or another neurological disease. “So, to give you some answers here, has the president been treated for Parkinson’s? No,” Jean-Pierre said on Monday. “Is he being treated for Parkinson’s? No, he’s not. Is he taking medication for Parkinson’s? No. So, those are the things that I can give you full-blown answers on.”
The president has been adamant that his doctors have not recommended any cognitive testing, insisting in an exclusive interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos that he passes a cognitive test every day. “Every day I have that test,” Biden said. “Everything I do. You know, not only am I campaigning, but I’m running the world. Not—and that’s not hi—sounds like hyperbole, but we are the essential nation of the world.” Stephanopoulos pressed Biden repeatedly if he would be willing to take a cognitive test and release the results publicly, but Biden declined to commit to such a course of action. “Watch me between—there’s a lotta time left in this campaign,” the president said.
Biden will be closely watched on the world stage this week as NATO leaders come to Washington, and some are deeply concerned about the president’s ability to run the country for another four years, according to an informal adviser to the Biden administration who has been speaking to NATO leaders. “He’s getting slower; he’s having a harder time hearing; he’s having a harder time processing; He doesn’t have the energy he used to,” the source said. “They’re concerned about the president’s ability to run a presidential schedule. You’ve got to be ‘on’ all of the time. Biden today is not that.”
In a letter just released by the president’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, he confirms that Dr. Kevin Cannard, the Parkinson’s expert who visited the White House eight times in an eight-month span, “was the neurological specialist that examined President Biden for each of his annual physicals.” O’Connor reiterates that “His findings have been made public each time I have released the results of the President’s annual physical,” adding, “President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical.” He also stresses that Biden’s last physical found no signs of Parkinson’s, as O’Connor detailed at the time in a February 28th letter.
While the White House Press Secretary refused to confirm these details earlier Monday, citing privacy concerns, O’Connor says he “obtained permission from the President and Dr. Cannard to confirm the details I am sharing.” O’Connor goes on to offer a full-throated endorsement of Dr. Cannard and his work as the Neurology Consultant to the White House since 2012. “Dr. Cannard was chosen for this responsibility not because he is a movement disorder specialist, but because he is a highly trained and highly regarded neurologist here at Walter Reed and across the Military Health System, with a very wide expertise which makes him flexible to see a variety of patients and problems,” he writes.
He also notes that Cannard “has held regular Neurology Clinics at the White House Medical Clinic in support of the thousands of active-duty members assigned in support of White House operations. Many military personnel experience neurological issues related to their service, and Dr. Canard regularly visits the WHMU as part of this General Neurology practice,” which may explain some of the visits.
A Parkinson’s Disease expert repeatedly visited the White House between last summer and this spring. On at least one occasion, Dr. Kevin Cannard met with President Joe Biden’s White House doctor. The White House is refusing to say why a Parkinson’s Disease expert met with President Joe Biden’s doctor earlier this year. In fact, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre won’t even confirm that the meeting took place—even though due to Biden’s own policy, the doctor’s eight visits are public information. “I’m not going to confirm a name,” Jean-Pierre said during a tense exchange with CBS reporter Ed O’Keefe. “It doesn’t matter even if it is in the log. I’m not going to do that from here.”
The White House press briefing today got extremely heated between CBS News correspondent Ed O’Keefe and Karine Jean-Pierre after KJP wouldn’t discuss why a Parkinson’s specialist repeatedly visited the White House. “It doesn’t matter how angry you get with me…” pic.twitter.com/VovyOvWklu— Justin Baragona (@justinbaragona) July 8, 2024
Here’s what we do know about the expert’s visits: Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurological expert, visited the White House eight times in roughly eight months, though it’s unclear what his trips entailed. According to his official biography, Cannard is a neurologist and movement disorders specialist at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He was also described as a Neurology Consultant to the White House medical unit from 2012 to 2022. In August 2023, Cannard also published a research paper in the journal Parkinsonism & Related Disorders on the early stages of the disease.
During at least one of his visits, Cannard met with President Joe Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, during a January visit. It’s unclear if Cannard has visited the White House since March, as the Biden White House only discloses visitor information on a delayed basis. Cannard traveled to the White House eight times between August 2023 and March of this year. Cannard did not immediately respond to a message Business Insider left for him.
Biden’s health has received renewed attention in the wake of a disastrous debate performance in which he sometimes struggled to finish his sentences and stared off into the distance on other occasions. Five Democratic lawmakers have since publicly called on the president to drop out of the 2024 race. Biden has adamantly declared he’s not going anywhere. Since the debate, Biden has repeatedly declined to commit to taking a cognitive test. He has said that the rigors of serving as commander in chief are a de facto test of his capabilities.
In February, O’Connor deemed Biden “fit for duty” and able to be president “without any exceptions or accommodations,” according to a six-page summary of the president’s health. O’Connor has previously not seen the need for Biden to take a detailed cognitive test. According to the February health summary, Biden did receive “an extremely detailed neurological exam” that ruled out the possibility of Parkinson’s Disease, stroke, multiple sclerosis, or other similar disorders.
The New York Post first wrote about one of Cannard’s visits to the White House. On Monday, The New York Times published a more extensive report on Cannard’s visits, citing both current and Obama-era White House visitor logs. President Joe Biden voluntarily discloses most visitors to the West Wing, an Obama-era transparency initiative that President Donald Trump scrapped during his time in office.
WASHINGTON — White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused Monday to explain a Parkinson’s expert’s series of recent visits to the executive mansion—citing “security reasons” despite the visitor logs being public. During tense exchanges at her regular briefing, Jean-Pierre refused to say what those security concerns surrounding Dr. Kevin Cannard’s eight visits over eight months might be, and at one point accused correspondents of engaging in “personal attacks.”
“There are thousands of military personnel who come onto this White House, many of them get the care from the White House Medical Unit. And so we need to be super careful,” the press secretary said. A Washington, DC-area neurologist who specializes in treating Parkinson’s disease visited the White House eight times in eight months, visitor logs show. Yuri Gripas – Pool via CNP / MEGA
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to explain the nature of the visits though. AFP via Getty Images
“The medical unit hosts a wide range of specialists, from dermatologists to neurologists, and so I cannot speak to every person because there are actually security reasons to protect their privacy.”
The White House residence has a small doctor’s office where Biden is seen. There’s a larger doctor’s office in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building, which is considered part of the White House complex—likely accounting for Jean-Pierre’s claim of “thousands” of troops being treated there.
Cannard’s visits included a January meeting with presidential physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor that was first highlighted Saturday by The Post in the wake of the president’s disastrous June 27 debate performance, at which he appeared confused and made nonsensical remarks. Biden had a physical in February and the White House said afterward that he did not have Parkinson’s.
Jean-Pierre said at the briefing that Biden has only seen a neurologist three times as president at each of his annual physical exams, but painstakingly avoided ruling out the possibility that Cannard was visiting the White House to consult on Biden’s health. “They’re in the White House visitor logs. It’s public! I looked it up before I came out here. It is right there for anyone to see,” Ed O’Keefe of CBS News pointed out.
“I cannot from here confirm any of that because we have to keep their privacy. I think they would appreciate that too,” Jean-Pierre maintained. “The patient or the doctor?” O’Keefe pressed. “We have to keep their privacy,” Jean-Pierre replied, without answering the question. “It is public,” reiterated NBC News correspondent Kelly O’Donnell, while O’Keffe exclaimed that “you’re going to allow this to fester longer, Karine, unless the White House just answers the question!”
Dr. Kevin Cannard has traveled from his post at Walter Reed Medical Center to the White House residence clinic eight times for early morning visits between July 2023 and March 2024. Jean-Pierre chided O’Keefe that “there’s no reason to go back and forth at me in this aggressive way.”
“We’re a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps about him!” shot back O’Keefe, noting Jean-Pierre had previously provided incomplete information about whether Biden had medical check-ups following the debate. “I am telling you right now I am not sharing, confirming names from here,” she repeated. “It is for security reasons. I am not going to do that, Ed. It doesn’t matter how hard you push me. it doesn’t matter how angry you get with me.
“I am not going to confirm a name, it doesn’t matter if it’s even in the log,” Jean-Pierre concluded. Later, O’Donnell pointed out that reporters were merely “seeking clarity” and noted that Biden could choose to make his medical records immediately by waiving his protections under federal law. “One part of the reason we are pressing here is that we are not clear, on what has happened,” O’Donnell said. “And therefore, the American people to whom we report don’t have a sense. So that’s what we’re trying to do.”
“Personal attacks is not OK,” Jean-Pierre added. “Want to be very, very clear here.”
A meeting, which was scooped by The Post on Saturday, with President Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, and Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed, took place at 5 p.m. Jan. 17. AFP via Getty Images
Dr. Cannard, who works at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, has made early morning visits to the White House residence clinic seven times between July 2023 and March 2024 to meet with Megan Nasworthy, who coordinates primary care visits for the president and his family. An eighth meeting, which The Post first reported on Saturday, took place at 5 p.m. Jan. 17 with physician to the president Dr. Kevin O’Connor and Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed.
Cannard also met at the White House with Joshua Simmons, an emergency medical specialist at Walter Reed, in November 2022. The close proximity of the visits were first reported by the New York Times. Cannard has worked at Walter Reed since 1998, according to his LinkedIn page, and has been a neurology consultant to the White House medical unit since March 2008. The doctor’s most recent paper—“Eleven-year outcomes from the deep brain stimulation in early-stage Parkinson’s disease pilot clinical trial”—was published in August 2023.
Cannard met seven times with Megan Nasworthy, who coordinates primary care visits for the 81-year-old president and his family. Navy Medicine
“A wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds,” White House spokesman Andrew Bates told The Post. Bates added that Biden’s annual physical at Walter Reed, which took place in February, involved “multiple specialists” including a neurologist—but the names of those doctors and dates of those visits would not be disclosed.
“As each report has stated, that examination has found no sign of Parkinson’s, and he is not being treated for it,” Bates said, noting also “there have been no neurologist visits besides the one for his physical per year, three in total.”
A handful of House Democrats have urged Biden to withdraw from the race since his disastrous debate performance on June 27. AFP via Getty Images
Following a more than two-hour annual physical on Feb. 28, Biden said: “There is nothing different than last year.” O’Connor released a six-page written assessment that noted, “The exam did again support a finding of peripheral neuropathy in both feet. No motor weakness was detected.”
“An extremely detailed neurologic 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, nor are there any signs of cervical myelopathy,” O’Connor also wrote.
Jean-Pierre also accused reporters of “personal attacks.” AFP via Getty Images
“The president doesn’t need a cognitive test. That is not my assessment, that is the assessment of the president’s doctor, that is also the assessment of his neurologist,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said during a press conference the same day.
“I have a neurological test every single day,” Biden echoed on Monday in a phone interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” using one of his favored lines to claim adeptness for the job of president.
Biden’s cognitive acuity and readiness to take on former President Donald Trump, 78, in the 2024 election have come under intense scrutiny from members of the media and Democratic lawmakers and strategists since his debate flop on June 27. The oldest-ever president tripped over his own words at several points and agonizingly froze up before delivering a non sequitur in response to a critical line of questioning about his handling of entitlement programs.
Nine House Democrats have since urged Biden to withdraw from the race.
Source: ABC News, Business Insider, The New York Post
