President Biden walks along the Colonnade at the White House with his physician Kevin O'Connor, Aug. 28, 2023. (Manuel Balce Ceneta/AP)
"What we have provided has been very transparent," Jean-Pierre responded.
This week, as Jean-Pierre discussed a Parkinson’s disease expert’s repeated visits to the White House in the last year, another reporter asked: "So can [Dr. O’Connor] tell us?"
Jean-Pierre shot down that specific request, arguing O'Connor "will not confirm" details surrounding the Parkinson's expert's visit. O'Connor released a letter that same day clearing up and confirming that the Parkinson's expert visited the White House as part of the president's annual physical, and that other trips to the White House were unrelated to Biden's health. There were no signs of neurological disorders, such as Parkinson's disease, multiple sclerosis, ascending lateral sclerosis, stroke or cervical myelopathy, found during Biden's physical in February, O'Connor said.
Fox News Digital reached out to the White House about any plans to host O’Connor during a press conference, and why he has not yet joined the media to discuss ongoing concerns on Biden’s health. The White House brushed off a potential O’Connor press conference, saying the physician's public and detailed reports on the president’s health since 2021 are sufficient.
DEMOCRATS, MEDIA DEMAND BIDEN DO MORE INTERVIEWS, PRESS CONFERENCES AMID DEBATE FALLOUT
"The thorough summaries Dr. O’Connor puts online for the public are far more extensive than the presidential medical documentation released during the previous administration," White House spokesman Andrew Bates said. "In fact, the American people heard from Dr. O’Connor through his daily written reports on President Biden’s COVID case for over two weeks straight – a condition he had the honesty to disclose right away, unlike Trump’s physicians in office.
Press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre speaks during the daily briefing at the White House on July 9, 2024. (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
Fox News Digital reviewed previous White House press briefings from across the Biden administration and found reporters have repeatedly asked to hear directly from the president’s doctor, going back to at least 2022, when Biden was diagnosed with COVID.
"I understand there’s been questions about Dr. O’Connor, but does the White House plan on making him available for questions, making him available to the public at any point?" a reporter asked Jean-Pierre on July 22, 2022.
WHO IS WHITE HOUSE PHYSICIAN DR. KEVIN O'CONNOR AND WHAT ARE HIS CLOSE TIES TO THE BIDEN FAMILY?
"We feel that Dr. O’Connor’s statements and his detailed report – again, on a – on a – on a situation as the – as the doctor just said, is mild – very mild. And he’s able to continue to do his work – is enough," she responded.
Earlier this year, Special Counsel Robert Hur’s report investigating Biden's handling of classified documents after his departure as vice president under the Obama administration further compounded concern over the president’s mental acuity.
Hur announced in February that he would not recommend criminal charges against the president for possessing classified materials, calling Biden "a sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
President Biden walks across the South Lawn of the White House, Sunday, July 7, after returning from a trip to Pennsylvania. (AP/Susan Walsh)
"So, look, you know, just to speak to the Hur report really, really quickly. Special Counsel Hur is – as far as I remember, is a – is a – obviously, a R- – a Republican, a – a prosecutor. He’s not a – he’s not a medical doctor. He’s just not. It’s not for him to speak to. It’s just not," Jean-Pierre responded.
She was pressed again that day: "But can we talk to his doctor, then?"
BIDEN'S PHYSICIAN SAYS NEUROLOGIST VISITED WHITE HOUSE AS PART OF ANNUAL EXAMINATIONS
"Well, look, I have said the pres- – the medical doctor, the president’s doctor is going to do a physical. He’s going to – and he has always put forth, in the last two years, a detailed – detailed memo on the president’s – on the president’s, obviously, medical physical," she said.
"And so, I’m just going to leave it there. I don’t have anything else to add."
O’Connor was first appointed to the White House Medical Unit in 2006 for what was intended to be a three-year military assignment, according to his profile published by the New York Institute of Technology College of Osteopathic Medicine, from which he graduated in 1992. Instead, Biden requested O’Connor stay on as his physician in 2009, ultimately serving as his doctor when Biden was vice president, before serving as Biden's doctor again when he was sworn in as president.
O’Connor has a cozy relationship with the Biden family, Fox Digital previously reported, with the president’s sister-in-law describing him as a "friend" in 2018, media reports showing he allegedly had a business relationship with Biden’s younger brother Jim Biden, and the president repeatedly mentioning him in his 2017 memoir "Promise Me, Dad," most notably in relation to Beau Biden’s brain cancer diagnosis.
"‘Seriously, Doc. No matter what happens. Take care of Pop. For real. Promise me. For real,’" Beau Biden said to O’Connor before his death, according to the president's memoir.
TOP DEMS PLANNING MEETING ABOUT BIDEN'S FUTURE DESPITE PRESIDENT'S VOWS TO CONTINUE CAMPAIGN
President Biden speaks with the White House physician, Kevin O'Connor, on August 28, 2023. (Getty Images)
"Historically, it is unusual for White House physicians to come to the Briefing Room unless a major medical event occurs. We do not look to an abusive, discredited, ultra-partisan or a doctor who concealed Trump’s COVID case from the nation as role models," Bates told Fox Digital.
PARKINSON'S DISEASE SPECIALIST MET WITH PRESIDENT BIDEN PHYSICIAN IN WHITE HOUSE
Following Biden’s disastrous debate, the president has engaged in a media, public event and campaign blitz, including hosting NATO leaders in Washington, D.C., this week, when the president delivered a strong speech commemorating NATO’s 75th anniversary. Praise from Democrats for the speech, however, was few and far between, with former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi saying in an interview the following day that Democrats are keeping their thoughts on Biden quiet "until we see how we go this week."
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Biden is slated to hold a highly-anticipated press conference at 6:30 pm Thursday, dubbed his "big boy press conference" by the media, where he will take questions solo from the press.
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