White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre conceded on Tuesday that she had been mixed up when she expressed neurologist Dr. Kevin Cannard, a Parkinson’s illness expert, had not analyzed President Joe Biden in January.
Following Biden’s poor debate performance against former President Donald Trump last month, some medical professionals have speculated that he has Parkinson’s.
White House Logs
The New York Post detailed over the weekend that as per the White House guest logs, Cannard had come to the White House on Jan. 17 and met with Biden’s presidential doctor Dr. Kevin O’Connor.
O’Connor delivered a letter Monday night, expressing that Cannard had inspected Biden during every one of his yearly physicals, the consequences of the latest of which were unveiled in late February.
Reason for Meeting
The reason Cannard met with O’Connor on January 17 was not explained in the letter.
At the Tuesday White House news briefing, Associated Press correspondent Seung Min Kim questioned Jean-Pierre regarding the letter.
Nature of the Meeting
Kim made note of the fact that the letter “didn’t seem to explicitly describe the nature of Dr. Cannard’s meeting with Dr. O’Connor.”
“So can you say whether that one meeting was related to care for the president himself?” She inquired.
Jean-Pierre’s Response
“I can say that it was not,” Jean-Pierre replied.
However, the press secretary contacted Kim again late on Tuesday evening and stated that her response was incorrect.
Clarification Statement
“Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the Jan. 17 meeting between Dr. O’Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the president’s physical” Jean-Pierre clarified in a statement to the AP.
“It was one of the three times the president has seen Dr. Cannard, each time for his physical. The findings from each exam have been released to the public.”
“Detailed Neurological Exam”
During a news briefing on Monday, Jean-Pierre read from Biden’s February health analysis.
“An extremely detailed neurological exam was again reassuring in that there were no findings which would be consistent with any cerebellar or other central neurological disorder, such as stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or ascending lateral sclerosis.”
Heated Conversation
During that briefing, Jean-Pierre had a heated conversation with CBS News reporter Ed O’Keefe.
This was prompted by the nature of Cannard’s eight visits to the White House grounds between August and March.
Unable to Confirm
She answered the line of questioning, expressing that because of protection reasons she was unable to affirm if Cannard had visited or who he had seen.
She did suggest that a few patients could incorporate military faculty, which raised security concerns.
“Basic Direct Question”
When questioned about Biden, Jean-Pierre offered a similar answer, provoking O’Keefe to say, “That’s a very basic direct question.”
He asserted, “That much you should be able to answer by this point.”
Cannard’s Record
“We cannot share names of specialists, broadly,” Jean-Pierre replied.
O’Keefe pointed out that Cannard’s name is squarely in the guest logs for anybody to see and kept on pushing the press secretary for a response.
Tense Exchange
“Hold on a second. There’s no reason to go back and forth with me in this aggressive way,” according to Jean-Pierre.
“Well, we’re a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps about [Biden],” O’Keefe responded.
Jean-Pierre is the first black and openly LGBT person to serve as White House press secretary.
