Biden's cancer diagnosis renews transparency outcry; Trump claims cover-up

Al Jazeera

20-05-2025

Former United States President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis has rekindled questions about whether he deceived the public about his health while in office, with his successor, Donald Trump, adding his voice to those suggesting a cover-up.
Speaking to reporters at the White House on Monday, President Trump cast doubt on the timing of Biden's advanced cancer diagnosis amid renewed scrutiny of the former president's physical and mental fitness during his tenure.
'I'm surprised that the public wasn't notified a long time ago,' Trump told reporters at the White House.
'Why did it take so long? This takes a long time. It can take years to get this level of danger,' Trump added, referring to the advanced nature of Biden's cancer.
'So, look, it's a very sad situation, I feel very badly about it. And I think people should try and find out what happened.'
Trump also said that doctors who had examined Biden while in office were 'not telling the facts'.
'That's a big problem,' he said.
Biden's office said in a statement on Sunday that the former president was diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to his bones.
The statement said Biden was diagnosed on Friday after experiencing 'increasing urinary symptoms' and that he and his family were reviewing treatment options.
Doctors graded Biden's cancer with a score of 9 under the Gleason classification system – which typically classifies prostate cancer between 6 and 10 – according to the statement, indicating it is among the most aggressive kinds.
Late-stage prostate cancer has an average five-year survival rate of 28 percent, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine.
Biden earlier on Monday expressed gratitude to well-wishers for their words of support and encouragement.
'Cancer touches us all,' Biden wrote on social media.
'Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.'
Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support. pic.twitter.com/oSS1vGIiwU
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 19, 2025The news of Biden's cancer diagnosis came as the former president's health was already under renewed scrutiny ahead of the publication of a new book detailing the alleged cover-up of his physical and mental deterioration by his inner circle.
Original Sin, written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson, contains various damning accounts of Biden's alleged decline, including an incident in which the then-president was reportedly unable to recognise Hollywood actor George Clooney at a 2024 fundraiser.
In his comments on Biden's diagnosis on Monday, Trump drew a link between the former president's cancer and the alleged concealment of his mental acuity.
'If you take a look, it's the same doctor that said Joe was cognitively fine, there was nothing wrong with him,' Trump said.
'There are things going on that the public wasn't informed of, and I think somebody is going to have to speak to his doctor,' he added.
Some doctors have publicly questioned the account of Biden's cancer diagnosis provided by his office, pointing out that such advanced cancer would have had to progress over a period of years.
'For even with the most aggressive form, it is a 5-7 year journey without treatment before it becomes metastatic,' Steven Quay, a pathologist who is the chief executive of biopharmaceutical company Atossa Therapeutics, said in a post on X.
'Meaning, it would be malpractice for this patient to show up and be first diagnosed with metastatic disease in May 2025. It is highly likely he was carrying a diagnosis of prostate cancer throughout his White House tenure and the American people were uninformed.'
Howard P Forman, a professor of radiology at Yale University, said it was 'inconceivable' that Biden's cancer was not detected before he left office, as it would have been picked up by a blood test known as a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
'Gleason grade 9 would have had an elevated PSA level for some time before this diagnosis. And he must have had a PSA test numerous times before. This is odd,' Forman said in a post on X.
However, Peter Nelson, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said it is possible for prostate cancer to develop and spread rapidly in a short period of time, though it is more common for it to remain localised without detection for years before progressing to other parts of the body.
'It is possible for prostate cancer to develop and then spread in a very short time span – by short, within one to two years,' Nelson told Al Jazeera.
'So, yes, it is credible that a man of his age and position could have his cancer develop and progress without detection. This would not be common, but definitely happens,' Nelson said.
Daniel W Lin, a prostate cancer expert at UW Medicine in Washington state, said that while Biden has 'very likely' had cancer for years, it is possible he was not given a PSA test.
'There are screening controversies with the use of PSA, and many medical groups do not recommend PSA testing after 70 or 75 years of age, although others recommend based on life expectancy or state of health rather than age cut-points,' Lin told Al Jazeera.
Lin said it was also possible that Biden has a rarer form of cancer that is not detectable by the test.
'This situation is less common, but not considered overly rare. Additionally, when this situation occurs, it is more common in high-grade cancers, such as former President Biden's case,' he said.
'Playing the odds, he does not fall into this category, however, it can definitely occur.'
Peter Black, director of the Vancouver Prostate Centre in Canada, said Biden's cancer going undetected in tests would be his best guess for the apparently sudden diagnosis.
'My best guess is that he has had a PSA done every year for a long time because that is what you would expect for a US senator/vice president/president, and that he actually has an age-appropriate PSA that did not raise any alarms,' Black told Al Jazeera.
'A diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer is usually associated with a very high PSA, but in a small minority of patients, the PSA is actually normal,' he said.