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.”
A view of the White House in Washington, July 8, 2024.
Kevin Mohatt/Reuters
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.”
ABC News’ Alexandra Hutzler and Selina Wang contributed to this report.
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