The former White House physician to President Barack Obama has broken his silence, candidly admitting that President Joe Biden should have undergone rigorous cognitive testing throughout all four years of his presidency.
Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, who served as Obamas doctor from 2009 to 2013, didnt mince words warning that Biden should have been subjected to extensive annual neurocognitive exams and that the results should be made public.
My position is that a 78-year-old candidate, Trump at the time, an 82-year-old president [Biden], would both benefit from neurocognitive testing, Kuhlman stated, noting how age-related decline is inevitable.
Any politician over the age of 70 has normal age-related cognitive decline.
Kuhlman, the author of Transforming Presidential Healthcare, has been making these recommendations for nearly a year – notably publishing them in a New York Times op-ed on the very day Biden bowed out of the 2024 race.
Despite multiple detailed physicals during Bidens time in office, Kuhlman pointed out that none included neurocognitive assessments like the Montreal Cognitive Assessment (MoCA) – a basic test famously taken and aced by President Trump.
I have no doubt that President Trump aced it, Kuhlman remarked.
Yet Bidens evaluations, spanning five to six single-spaced pages and referencing 10 to 20 specialists, conspicuously omitted any serious cognitive screening.
Dr. Jeffrey Kuhlman, right, who served as Obamas doctor from 2009 to 2013, has broken his silence, candidly admitting that President Joe Biden should have undergone rigorous cognitive testing throughout all four years of his presidency
The White House had long insisted Biden was fit for duty, yet Kuhlmans remarks cast fresh doubts on those assurances
Bidens physician, Dr. Kevin OConnor who also treated Biden during his vice presidency never subjected him to a formal cognitive battery or even the routine MoCA test.
Such an omission has become more glaring given the presidents visible struggles, culminating in his disastrous debate performance in June 2024 that effectively ended his reelection bid.
Sometimes those closest to the tree miss the forest, Kuhlman said to the New York Post acknowledging his respect for OConnors medical judgment but hinting at blind spots that may have endangered the presidency itself.
Kuhlman also emphasized that simple cognitive screens like the MoCA are not enough to fully assess deeper mental deterioration.
True evaluation requires extensive testing for memory, reasoning, processing speed, and spatial visualization. Such faculties begin to decline starting around age 60.
The White House had long insisted Biden was fit for duty, yet Kuhlmans remarks cast fresh doubts on those assurances.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre brushed aside concerns at a February 2024 briefing declaring, The president doesnt need a cognitive test. He passes a cognitive test every day.
But the former presidential physicians comments now suggest that claim was complacent.
White House logs revealed Biden met with his personal physician Dr. Kevin Cannard, pictured, and a Parkinsons specialist from Walter Reed, as part of his annual physical in January 2024
Adding fuel to the fire, White House logs revealed Biden met with Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinsons specialist from Walter Reed, as part of his annual physical in January 2024.
While OConnor insisted the meeting was routine, other medical professionals werent convinced.
If somebody turns up a report that Kevin Cannard said he has Parkinsons then thats a completely different story, Kuhlman said.
He did, however, express trust in Cannards evaluation based on their long-standing professional history.
In the past, critics pointed to Bidens stiff gait, slow movement, and shuffling walk as signs of something deeper.
I couldve diagnosed him from across the Mall, neurologist Dr. Tom Pitts bluntly told NBC in July 2024.
Kuhlman, who served as Obamas doctor from 2009 to 2013, said Biden should have been subjected to extensive annual neurocognitive exams and the results should be made public
In one final blow, Special Counsel Robert Hurs bombshell decision not to indict Biden over his handling of classified documents cited that a jury would likely view the president as a sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory.
The Republican-led House Oversight Committee is now turning up the heat.
Chairman James Comer (R-Kentucky) has subpoenaed OConnor to testify under oath on June 27 about Bidens mental fitness.
Last month, a new book titled Original Sin by CNNs Jake Tapper and Axios Alex Thompson hit the shelves with allegations of a vast cover-up of Bidens final years in office
In a pointed letter, Comer raised concerns about OConnors financial relationship with the Biden family and suggested there may have been a cover-up to conceal the presidents cognitive decline from the American public.
Jean-Pierre who has since left the Democratic Party and is preparing to release a scathing tell-all book about the broken Biden administration is also expected to testify.
Last month, a new book titled Original Sin by CNNs Jake Tapper and Axios Alex Thompson hit the shelves with allegations of a vast cover-up of Bidens final years in office.
According to the books authors, OConnor resisted administering a cognitive test during Bidens last two years.
Days before the books released Biden revealed he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer with the cells having spread to the bone.
Kuhlman emphasized that cancer testing protocols should have been maintained after 2014, but hinted that Biden may have been let down even in that regard.
I hope that Kevin OConnor had that conversation every year with his patient, Joe Biden, and documented that in the medical record, he said. If he did the PSA and chose not to release it, I dont agree with that.
