Sure, there were tweets and moments of apparent confusion that were quickly snatched and shared by those on the right, but during the debate, Americans saw a side of the president they’d never seen in public before.
Since then, there has been an intensified effort to understand the gravity of the decline and how the White House has tried to manage the situation. It also means Biden and his administration will face new scrutiny, even down to an analysis of individual public falsehoods.
This week, it seems the eagerness to identify the problem outweighed the evidence in some cases.
The New York Post reported Saturday morning that “Kevin Canard, a Parkinson’s disease expert at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center,” met with Biden’s physician, Kevin O’Connor, at the White House in January. A cardiologist was also present during the meeting, according to the paper.
The same day, Alex Berenson, a prominent disseminator of misinformation during the pandemic, pointed out on Substack that Cannard had visited the White House at least six times in the past year, information he described as “highly urgent.”
On Monday, The New York Times reported on the visit, following a timeline of Cannard’s visit, under the headline “Parkinson’s Disease Expert Makes Eighth Visit to White House in Eight Months.” The report prompted a flurry of questions at a White House press conference on Monday, with White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre claiming that privacy and security constraints restricted her from talking about the visit.
Late Monday night, the White House released O’Connor’s letter.
“Dr. Cannard has served as a consultant neurologist to the White House Medical Unit since 2012,” the report states. O’Connor explained, “Mr. Cannard was the neurologist who examined President Biden during his annual physical. His findings have been made public whenever the results of the President’s annual physical are released. President Biden does not see a neurologist outside of his annual physical.”
O’Connor concluded her letter by pointing out that Cannard “was selected for this position not because he is an expert in movement disorders but because he is a highly trained and respected neurologist.”
O’Connor made two points that directly refuted the idea that Cannard was tasked with treating Biden’s Parkinson’s disease, as the Times article suggested. First, Biden’s medical exams this year found no signs of the disease, as outlined in O’Connor’s comprehensive report at the time. Second, Cannard, as a neurologist in the White House Medical Unit, helps “thousands” of current and former military personnel who work in the White House, many of whom “experience service-connected neurological issues.”
That explanation aside, Cannard’s visit is hardly unusual given the number of visits purportedly made during the Obama administration: Visitor records held by the National Archives document 64 visits, including tours of the White House and Cannard’s attendance at holiday parties, between 2012 and 2016. No records exist for the Trump administration.
O’Connor’s letter states:[p]before [coronavirus] After the pandemic ends, Canard will “host regular neurology clinics at the White House Medical Clinic” to support military personnel. The national emergency related to the pandemic ends in May 2023, and Canard’s visits resume in July 2023, except for a meeting at the White House in November 2022.
Notably, three of Canard’s 10 documented visits under this administration occurred when Biden was not in the White House, two of which were on the same day. These include a November 2022 visit when Biden was in Bali, and August and November visits when Biden was in Nevada and San Francisco, respectively. This clearly supports the idea that Canard’s activities involve individuals other than the president.
The controversy is due in part to the White House’s approach to information about the president. The White House lost credibility when Biden’s issues emerged during the debate, no matter how unusual the events. While the White House has provided detailed documentation of Biden’s medical exam, reporters are understandably wary of taking the White House’s statements at face value.
But in this case, aside from O’Connor’s flagrant dishonesty (she stated in the letter that Biden had not seen a neurologist because medical exams showed no signs of Parkinson’s disease), the focus on Canard seems misplaced.
