Biden's cancer diagnosis draws sympathy — and suspicion
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Then-President Biden outside the White House last July. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Former President Biden's disclosure that he had Stage 4 prostate cancer was quickly met with sympathy late Sunday. By Monday morning, the questions — from Democrats and Republicans alike — had begun.
Why it matters: The timing of Biden's announcement, coupled with the way his handlers tried to cover up his health issues in the past, fueled speculation about how long he'd known about the cancer.
People in both parties, whether they love Joe Biden or despise him, wondered whether the announcement was timed to change the subject after a week of reports about his physical and mental deterioration when he was president.
- Those reports included recordings, first posted Friday by Axios, of Biden being interviewed by prosecutors in 2023 about his handling of classified documents. Biden had such difficulty recalling events that prosecutor Robert Hur later described him as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."
Zoom in: On Monday, medical experts didn't exactly calm the suspicions about Biden's cancer diagnosis — even as they said it was treatable and that he could live several years with the disease.
- "He's had this for many years, maybe even a decade, growing there and spreading," Ezekiel Emanuel, an oncologist who was a Biden White House COVID adviser, told the stunned hosts of MSNBC's "Morning Joe."
- Emanuel later told CNN that the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) blood test used to detect prostate cancer isn't always reliable. Emanuel and other doctors noted that Biden, 82, is well beyond the 55-70 recommended age range for prostate cancer screening.
- But given how thoroughly presidents' health is scrutinized, it would be surprising if Biden hadn't been tested before his recent symptoms appeared, Emanuel said on "Morning Joe": "It's a little strange."
Zoom out: Several former Biden White House aides acknowledged they were perplexed.
- "I love Joe Biden," a former campaign and White House aide told Axios. "But I don't feel the same about some of the people around him. So I feel terrible saying this: I just don't know what to believe."
President Trump and the White House initially offered sympathy for Biden and did not engage in speculation on Sunday.
- But on Monday, Trump told reporters: "I'm surprised the public wasn't notified a long time ago ... I think if you take a look, it's the same doctor who said Joe was cognitively fine."
Some of Trump's MAGA loyalists struck a similar chord on social media, sending a mix of prayers and I-told-you-so messages about Biden's health — an issue they'd been harping on for years.
- Vice President Vance questioned the care Biden received and whether his advisers were honest, telling reporters: "We can pray for good health — but also recognize that if you're not in good enough health to do the job, you shouldn't be doing the job."
- Donald Trump Jr. asked on X whether former First Lady Jill Biden was part of "another coverup."
Flashback: The Bidens have been silent about cancer in the family before, according to "Original Sin," a book by Axios' Alex Thompson and CNN's Jake Tapper that's being released today.
- When the Bidens' son Beau was attorney general of Delaware in 2013, he had brain surgery to remove a tumor and was diagnosed with Stage 4 glioblastoma — one of the deadliest forms of brain cancer.
- Beau and then-Vice President Biden's teams deliberated whether to explain his situation publicly, but decided to say nothing for months, according to "Original Sin."
In February 2014, Dr. Wai-Kwan Alfred Yung released a statement that Beau had a "clean bill of health."
- Beau Biden died 15 months later, soon after he left office.
- The book says that for the last year of his life, as he had difficulties with speech and other everyday tasks, Beau Biden was quietly flown around the country for experimental treatments and usually admitted into hospitals under an alias: George Lincoln.
Even some members of the Biden family didn't understand the lack of transparency.
- According to "Original Sin," Beau's wife, Hallie, expressed frustration about concealing the disease rather than telling people. The public would rally around Beau, she argued to friends. But Joe and Beau Biden opposed going public.
What they're saying: A Biden spokesperson declined to comment on Monday.
- But on Tuesday the former president's team shed some light on Biden's diagnosis, saying that his "last known PSA [test] was in 2014," meaning he stopped getting tested when he was 70 or 71, about the age at which the test no longer is recommended.
- The spokesperson added: "Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer."
This story has been updated to reflect the Biden spokesperson's comment on Tuesday.
