Opinion: Why Biden's Cancer Diagnosis Could Become as Big a Scandal as Watergate
Anthony Scaramucci thinks former President Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis has the potential to rival the Watergate scandal.
The broadcaster and financier, who briefly served as the White House's director of communications in 2017 during President Donald Trump's first term, joined The Daily Beast Podcast this week, where he and host Joanna Coles discussed Biden's Stage 4 prostate cancer diagnosis.
'My heart goes out to him. He served the country for 50 plus years. He lost his son,' Scaramucci noted. 'My heart goes out to him and his family.'
But when asked by Coles how Biden could not have known that he had prostate cancer while still in office a few months ago, Scaramucci said, 'I don't think it's realistic.'
Biden was last given a clean bill of health by White House Dr. Kevin O'Connor in February 2024. Annual medical reports from his presidency did not show that he was tested for prostate cancer, and representatives for Biden have yet to comment on whether he was screened while in office.
'[If] you told me that you had a very obscure, hard to understand disease, you know, one out of 300 million people have it and they missed it—okay. But this is something that most men unfortunately are gonna get before their lifetime is over,' Scaramucci said.
'Whether Joe Biden just learned about this stage four cancer yesterday, even if that's 100% true, it doesn't matter for the conversation,' he continued, 'because the people don't believe that.'
Since Biden's diagnosis, supporters and critics alike have raised questions about how—and whether—the cancer went unnoticed by doctors. Biden's health had already been under scrutiny amid new reporting about how aides concealed other health and acuity concerns.
If Biden knew about his cancer diagnosis while he was still president it could be 'a scandal as bad as Watergate,' Scaramucci said.
'If that is true, this is political Enron. This is a scandal as bad as Watergate. You can't tell me that you're taking oaths to the Constitution and you've got somebody now that is not capable of doing the job that he's in and you're not removing him.'
The loudest voices pushing questions—and raising concerns—about the context of Biden's diagnosis have come from the MAGAverse. Just hours after the announcement of Biden's cancer on Sunday, Donald Trump Jr., for one, alleged that it could have been 'coverup.' His take was echoed by a slew of pro-Trump influencers.
The Sunday announcement from Biden's camp said that a doctor had discovered a nodule on his prostate last week and that the 82-year-old had been diagnosed with an 'aggressive form' of cancer that had spread to his bones.
'While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management,' the statement said.
'Cancer touches us all,' Biden wrote in an X post on Monday, alongside a photo of him and his wife. '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.'
New episodes of The Daily Beast Podcast are released every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Follow our new feed on your favorite podcast platform at beast.pub/dailybeastpod and subscribe on YouTube to watch full episodes.
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