Latest news with #cognitiveTest
Fox News
07-08-2025
- Politics
- Fox News
Biden camp skipped Super Bowl interview amid Robert Hur report concerns: Source
Former President Joe Biden's campaign team allegedly opted against a Super Bowl interview last year because of Special Counsel Robert Hur's report, Fox News Digital has learned. A source familiar with Anita Dunn's interview with the House Oversight Committee told Fox News Digital that the report – in which Hur described Biden as "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory" – played a factor in the then-president breaking with the decades-old tradition. But a source close to Dunn told Fox News Digital that she said Biden's team decided against doing a Super Bowl interview last year because they thought the main coverage would be about what he did with classified records and not about the president's policy decisions. They claimed the choice was made before Hur's report was released. Dunn sat with House investigators for just over five hours on Thursday, as Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., probes allegations that Biden's inner circle worked to conceal evidence of mental decline in the former president. The source familiar with her interview said Dunn also told committee staff that Biden's inner circle came to a consensus he should not take a cognitive test, concluding it would offer no political benefit to the then-president. It comes two days after Fox News Digital was told that ex-deputy White House chief of staff Bruce Reed, who met with House investigators on Tuesday, said Biden's White House physician Kevin O'Connor called cognitive tests "meaningless." The source close to Dunn said Thursday that Biden's team believed he would be able to pass a cognitive test, even if they saw no political benefit in one. Dunn also told investigators that she was not aware of Biden's stutter, which he's said he dealt with all his life, until media coverage of it in 2020, the first source said. "She went on to blame the media for pushing the narrative that President Biden was old," the source said. The practice of pre-Super Bowl interviews began with former President George W. Bush opting to sit for an interview before the big game in 2004 and has been since followed by both former President Barack Obama and President Donald Trump – though Trump also skipped out on a Super Bowl interview in 2019. Biden sat for Super Bowl interviews in 2021 and 2022, but did not in 2023 and 2024. In 2023, talks about a pre-Super Bowl interview fell through with Fox Corp. Hur's report was released publicly on Feb. 8, 2024. The Super Bowl took place that year on Feb. 11. He was appointed special counsel by former Attorney General Merrick Garland in 2023 to investigate whether Biden mishandled classified documents. Hur "uncovered evidence that President Biden willfully retained and disclosed classified materials after his vice-presidency when he was a private citizen" but said it did not "establish guilt beyond a reasonable doubt." Given that Biden "would likely present himself to a jury, as he did during our interview of him, as a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory," Hur said, "it would be difficult to convince a jury that they should convict him – by then a former president well into his eighties – of a serious felony that requires a mental state of willfulness." Dunn is the tenth ex-Biden administration official to appear before the House Oversight Committee. In addition to investigating the alleged cover-up, Committee Chairman James Comer, R-Ky., is also looking into whether decisions were approved via autopen without the former president's knowledge. Of particular interest to Comer is the myriad of clemency orders Biden signed in the latter half of his presidency, though the former president told The New York Times last month that he was behind every decision. Dunn, like most of those who appeared before her, defended Biden's mental acuity to committee investigators. "The President made it clear that decisions rested with him, and White House staff brought issues to him for him to decide," Dunn said in her opening statement, obtained by Fox News Digital. "I believed strongly then, and I believe just as strongly today, that Joe Biden was an effective President who accomplished many important things for the American people." A spokesperson for the House Oversight Committee criticized Dunn after the statement came out in the media, however. "It's no surprise Anita Dunn is telling the American people not to believe their own eyes, claiming Joe Biden was sharp and 'fully engaged.' This opening statement, leaked to media before Ms. Dunn even delivered it, is yet another example of the absurd lengths Biden loyalists will go to defend his failed presidency," the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Fox News Digital also reached out to a representative for Biden and to Dunn's counsel for comment.
Yahoo
08-06-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Obama WH physician says Biden doc should have performed cognitive test
Former President Barack Obama's White House physician said in a new interview that former President Joe Biden's doctor should have performed a cognitive test to evaluate his fitness to serve in office. Obama's doctor, Jeffrey Kuhlman, told The Washington Post that Biden White House physician Kevin O'Connor should have performed a cognitive test during Biden's last year as president, given his age. O'Connor, who Kuhlman first appointed as Biden's doctor in 2009 when he was vice president, declared in a 2024 report that the then-81-year-old president "continues to be fit for duty." The report did not mention any neurocognitive testing. "Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest," Kuhlman told the Post. "It shouldn't be just health, it should be fitness," Kuhlman said. "Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?" Trump Responds To Biden Dismissal Of Autopen Probe, Says He Didn't Know 'What Was Going On' Read On The Fox News App Kuhlman, who departed the White House Medical Unit in 2013, described O'Connor as "a good doctor" who appeared to do his best to "give trusted medical advice." "I didn't see that he's purposely hiding stuff, but I don't know that," Kuhlman told the Post. "Maybe the investigation will show it." President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Biden's aides "abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline and assert Article II authority." "This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history," the order says. "The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts." "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," Biden said in a statement Wednesday night. "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false." Trump's order appeared to nod to the findings of special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents while he was vice president. In a report released in February 2024, Hur concluded Biden "willfully retained and disclosed" sensitive materials but should not stand trial, describing the president as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Hur cited instances when Biden could not recall key dates and events, including when he served as vice president and when his son, Beau, passed away. The report was released at a time when Biden was still planning a second term run. Last week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena for O'Connor to appear for a deposition at the end of the month "as part of the investigation into the cover-up of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions." Biden's Personal Doctor Summoned As Republicans Dig Deeper Into Alleged Cognitive Decline Cover-up The committee re-posted the Post's interview with Kuhlman to X, writing, "Even Obama's doctor admits the truth. This is precisely why Chairman @RepJamesComer subpoenaed Dr. Kevin O'Connor, Biden's physician. This is a scandal of historical proportions, and we will investigate it thoroughly!" In a letter to O'Connor, Comer said the transcribed interview would focus on the physician's February 2024 assessment that Biden was "a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." "Among other subjects, the Committee expressed its interest in whether your financial relationship with the Biden family affected your assessment of former President Biden's physical and mental fitness to fulfill his duties as President," Comer wrote. Questions about Biden's cognitive state stretch extend solely past Republicans. CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson recently published a book titled "Original Sin," which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden's mental state and age. In the book, Tapper and Thompson wrote, "Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board." Naomi Biden, the former president's granddaughter, dismissed the book as "political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class." Comer requested transcribed interviews with Biden's White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counselor to the president. He also called for former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee and suggested subpoenas could be forthcoming if they did not schedule voluntary interviews. The Associated Press contributed to this report. Original article source: Obama WH physician says Biden doc should have performed cognitive test
Fox News
08-06-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Obama WH physician says Biden doc should have performed cognitive test
Former President Barack Obama's White House physician said in a new interview that former President Joe Biden's doctor should have performed a cognitive test to evaluate his fitness to serve in office. Obama's doctor, Jeffrey Kuhlman, told The Washington Post that Biden White House physician Kevin O'Connor should have performed a cognitive test during Biden's last year as president, given his age. O'Connor, who Kuhlman first appointed as Biden's doctor in 2009 when he was vice president, declared in a 2024 report that the then-81-year-old president "continues to be fit for duty." The report did not mention any neurocognitive testing. "Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest," Kuhlman told the Post. "It shouldn't be just health, it should be fitness," Kuhlman said. "Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?" Kuhlman, who departed the White House Medical Unit in 2013, described O'Connor as "a good doctor" who appeared to do his best to "give trusted medical advice." "I didn't see that he's purposely hiding stuff, but I don't know that," Kuhlman told the Post. "Maybe the investigation will show it." President Donald Trump on Wednesday ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to investigate whether Biden's aides "abused the power of Presidential signatures through the use of an autopen to conceal Biden's cognitive decline and assert Article II authority." "This conspiracy marks one of the most dangerous and concerning scandals in American history," the order says. "The American public was purposefully shielded from discovering who wielded the executive power, all while Biden's signature was deployed across thousands of documents to effect radical policy shifts." "Let me be clear: I made the decisions during my presidency," Biden said in a statement Wednesday night. "I made the decisions about the pardons, executive orders, legislation, and proclamations. Any suggestion that I didn't is ridiculous and false." Trump's order appeared to nod to the findings of special counsel Robert Hur, who investigated Biden's handling of classified documents while he was vice president. In a report released in February 2024, Hur concluded Biden "willfully retained and disclosed" sensitive materials but should not stand trial, describing the president as a "sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory." Hur cited instances when Biden could not recall key dates and events, including when he served as vice president and when his son, Beau, passed away. The report was released at a time when Biden was still planning a second term run. Last week, House Oversight Committee Chairman Rep. James Comer, R-Ky., issued a subpoena for O'Connor to appear for a deposition at the end of the month "as part of the investigation into the cover-up of President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and potentially unauthorized issuance of sweeping pardons and other executive actions." The committee re-posted the Post's interview with Kuhlman to X, writing, "Even Obama's doctor admits the truth. This is precisely why Chairman @RepJamesComer subpoenaed Dr. Kevin O'Connor, Biden's physician. This is a scandal of historical proportions, and we will investigate it thoroughly!" In a letter to O'Connor, Comer said the transcribed interview would focus on the physician's February 2024 assessment that Biden was "a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." "Among other subjects, the Committee expressed its interest in whether your financial relationship with the Biden family affected your assessment of former President Biden's physical and mental fitness to fulfill his duties as President," Comer wrote. Questions about Biden's cognitive state stretch extend solely past Republicans. CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson recently published a book titled "Original Sin," which details concerns and debates inside the White House and Democratic Party over Biden's mental state and age. In the book, Tapper and Thompson wrote, "Five people were running the country, and Joe Biden was at best a senior member of the board." Naomi Biden, the former president's granddaughter, dismissed the book as "political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class." Comer requested transcribed interviews with Biden's White House senior advisers Mike Donilon and Anita Dunn, former White House chief of staff Ron Klain, former deputy chief of staff Bruce Reed and Steve Ricchetti, a former counselor to the president. He also called for former senior White House aides Annie Tomasini, Anthony Bernal, Ashley Williams and Neera Tanden to appear before the committee and suggested subpoenas could be forthcoming if they did not schedule voluntary interviews.
Washington Post
07-06-2025
- Health
- Washington Post
Obama's doctor is critical of care decision by Biden's doctor
Joe Biden's doctor should have given him a cognitive test during his final year as president because of his age, Barack Obama's former physician said in an interview, contending that the results would have helped the White House and the public understand whether Biden was up to serving another four years. A report by White House physician Kevin O'Connor in February 2024 didn't include any mention of neurocognitive testing for the then-81-year-old Biden. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who held the same job under Obama and has called for cognitive testing for presidents and presidential candidates, said Biden would have benefited from such a test given his age. 'Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest,' Kuhlman said of O'Connor, Biden's physician since 2009. The rare criticism of one White House doctor by another comes as Republicans have increased scrutiny of O'Connor and other former White House aides. House Republicans subpoenaed O'Connor on Thursday, a day after President Donald Trump ordered White House attorneys to determine whether Biden's inner circle tried to conceal his alleged cognitive decline. Kuhlman also said the 2024 report merely assessed Biden's health when it should have considered his fitness to serve in one of the most taxing jobs on the planet. 'It shouldn't be just health, it should be fitness,' Kuhlman said. 'Fitness is: Do you have that robust mind, body, spirit that you can do this physically, mentally, emotionally demanding job?' O'Connor did not respond to repeated requests for comment. Biden's recent disclosure of metastatic prostate cancer and reporting about his alleged physical and cognitive decline have fueled suspicion — among Democrats as well as Republicans — that the true state of Biden's health toward the end of his term was known only by O'Connor and a few others closest to Biden. Journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson sketched a picture of a well-meaning but weakened president in a book they released last month. The book, which draws on interviews with dozens of Democratic insiders after the 2024 election, paints a portrait of a man suffering at times from forgetfulness, incoherence and fatigue. It also says that O'Connor was reluctant to give Biden a cognitive test, though he was assessed by a neurologist for conditions such as Parkinson's disease. Biden gave a sarcastic response last week. 'You can see that I'm mentally incompetent, and I can't walk, and I can beat the hell out of both of them,' he told reporters at a Memorial Day event, apparently referring to Tapper and Thompson. Biden's granddaughter Naomi Biden has called the book 'political fairy smut.' The book isn't the first time Biden's cognitive state has been questioned. Special counsel Robert K. Hur said in February 2024 that Biden had 'limited precision and recall' — including not remembering when his vice-presidential term ended — after Hur conducted two days of interviews with Biden about his handling of classified documents. Kuhlman formerly worked alongside O'Connor in the White House medical unit, a nonpartisan post, and appointed him in 2009 to serve as then-Vice President Biden's personal doctor. Kuhlman was Obama's physician from 2009 to 2013. O'Connor examined Biden — and signed his name to the February 2024 medical report that said the president 'continues to be fit for duty' — four months before a disastrous campaign debate between Trump and Biden prompted Democrats to call for Biden to step down as the nominee. Kuhlman, who left the medical unit in 2013, said he tries not to criticize those who have held similar positions. He called O'Connor 'a good doctor' who seemed to do his best to 'give trusted medical advice.' 'I didn't see that he's purposely hiding stuff, but I don't know that,' he said. 'Maybe the investigation will show it.' O'Connor's six-page report included Biden's lab results and an explanation of various conditions for which he was being treated. It also listed 10 medical specialists, including a neurologist, who also examined Biden. 'President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,' O'Connor wrote. White House doctors have long been under intense public scrutiny, balancing the deeply personal doctor-patient relationship with a responsibility to tell the American public whether the president is fit to serve — and if not, why. Some have gone to great lengths to hide when the president is severely ill — as Grover Cleveland's doctors did when they turned a yacht into an operating room to secretly remove a tumor from the president's mouth in 1893. Presidential physicians also are expected to communicate to Americans personal information about the very person who could fire them. 'Whether it's family who are worried for them or people who work for them and don't want to lose their jobs, no one has a vested interest in hearing the truth about the president's health — except for the American people and the world,' said Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the University of Virginia. It has not always been clear what role the White House doctors see for themselves. Even as they are often close confidants of the president, they must consider the good of the country in their recommendations about what tests and treatments to pursue. O'Connor repeatedly refused last year to administer a cognitive exam to Biden even as aides privately expressed concerns about his mental fitness, according to Tapper and Thompson's book. Trump's former doctors, including Ronny Jackson and Sean Conley, have at times sounded more like cheerleaders for the president than sober judges of his health. His current doctor, Sean Barbabella, mentioned Trump's 'frequent victories in golf events' in the first medical report of his second term. Jackson suggested to the media in 2018 that Trump had 'incredibly good genes' and joked that he might live to 200 years old if his eating habits were more healthful. Jackson, now a Republican congressman from Texas, was demoted by the U.S. Navy after an inspector general report shed light on multiple misdeeds involving alcohol and harassment while he served in the White House medical unit. Conley, who succeeded Jackson, repeatedly downplayed the severity of Trump's symptoms when he was hospitalized with covid-19 in the fall of 2020. Past presidents who didn't want the public to know the truth about their poor health have orchestrated elaborate cover-ups. After Woodrow Wilson suffered a major stroke in 1919, leaving him with a paralyzed left side, his doctor conspired with Wilson's wife to keep his condition hidden from his own Cabinet. Cleveland insisted the operation to remove his tumor be secretly performed on a friend's yacht, under the guise that he was on a fishing trip near his summer home on Long Island. The administration denied an initial report about the surgery, and the truth wasn't widely accepted until after Cleveland's death many years later, when one of his doctors publicly confessed. On the other hand, Dwight D. Eisenhower reportedly ordered his press secretary to 'tell them everything' after suffering a heart attack in 1955. His surgeons regularly briefed the public after his heart surgery. But medical transparency is only as strong as the president wants it to be. Like regular Americans, the president is protected by medical privacy laws, so disclosing any health information is ultimately up to him. An additional challenge, former White House doctors and presidential historians say, is that there is no official requirement for how often a president should undergo an exam, what the exam should include and which of the results should be made public. 'There's nothing codified about what to do,' said Kuhlman, who also served on the White House medical unit under George W. Bush. White House doctors traditionally conduct an annual physical exam on the president and release a memo of varying length that includes vital signs, a summary of the physical examination and the results of blood tests. These memos generally conclude with some kind of pronouncement from the doctor that the president is fit to execute the duties of the presidency. Trump's and Biden's doctors have largely followed that pattern, although the reports on Biden's health have been significantly longer and more detailed than the reports on Trump. Kuhlman and Lawrence Mohr, who served as physician to Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush, said they were never asked by any president to withhold medical information in their reports. Mohr said he recalls that there was 'never any question' about being candid about the president's health. 'You never lie; never, never say anything that's not true,' Mohr said. 'You put out a clear press release about what's going on, what to expect and you get it out there. If you don't do that, you end up with all sorts of speculation.' Reagan was 77 when he left office and five years later announced he had Alzheimer's disease. He faced similar questions about his fitness to serve. Mohr recollected administering the Mini-Mental State Examination — a test used to assess cognitive function — to the 40th president. Trump's doctors have given him a different cognitive test, the Montreal Cognitive Assessment. But cognitive tests are not standard practice. Neither George W. Bush nor Obama took one, Kuhlman said. But they were much younger while in office than Biden. 'I was fortunate to have 50-year-old patients instead of 80-year-old ones,' Kuhlman said.
