President Biden walks out of the White House on Wednesday to board Marine One for a short trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., for his annual physical.
Andrew Harnik/AP
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Andrew Harnik/AP
President Biden walks out of the White House on Wednesday to board Marine One for a short trip to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Md., for his annual physical.
Andrew Harnik/AP
President Biden got his latest physical on Wednesday at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center — an evaluation that the White House said drew on the expertise of 20 doctors, but did not involve a cognitive exam.
The summary of the exam, to be released later on Wednesday, will be closely scrutinized since Biden, now 81, is the oldest person ever to hold the office, and voters have expressed concern that he is too old for a second four-year term in the job.
Concerns about Biden’s age were amplified earlier this month by a special counsel report about Biden’s handling of classified material that described him as a “sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.”
Biden did not have a cognitive test as part of his physical
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters that his doctors determined that he didn’t need a cognitive exam.
“He passes a cognitive test every day,” she said, describing the challenges of the job, which she said was more rigorous than a 15-minute cognitive test could be.
Biden’s medical reports from November 2021 and February 2023 also did not include any references to tests or evaluations of his memory or cognition.
Former President Donald Trump — the front-runner in the race to be the Republican candidate for November’s presidential election — has bragged about taking a cognitive test when he was president.
Biden has noted that at age 77, Trump is almost as old as he is, and also sometimes mixes up names.
Biden has deflected concerns about his age
Biden was angry with the assessment in the special counsel report, telling reporters “my memory is fine” — before mistakenly referring to the president of Mexico when he meant Egypt.
The White House has since taken pains to show Biden managing a busy schedule of campaign travel and other public appearances, where he often tries to use humor to reassure people about his age.
Biden told reporters that none of his results had changed from last year, when in a Feb. 2023 memo, his longtime physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor concluded Biden was a “healthy, vigorous, 80-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency” — other than that, he quipped, “They think I look too young.”
Last week, at a fundraising even in Beverly Hills, Biden joked with donors that “I may not run as fast as I used to” but said that his age has brought him “a little bit of wisdom about how we can get things done.”
