The MAGA faithful are accusing Joe Biden’s White House physician of concealing the former president’s prostate cancer diagnosis, and they are demanding that he be subpoenaed.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, an osteopath, attested to Biden’s health for more than a decade as his physician. He said in February 2024 that the then-president was a “healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”
Biden, now 82, is now fighting for his life with Stage 4 prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. The former president’s office said he was diagnosed after a small nodule was found in his prostate during a routine physical exam this month. His late-stage prognosis, as well as a spate of mental lapses in his final year in office, has led MAGA to allege that O’Connor intentionally concealed Biden’s health concerns.
President Donald Trump’s ex-national security adviser, retired Lt. Gen. Michael Flynn, said Tuesday that House Speaker Mike Johnson should “immediately subpoena” O’Connor.
“Ask if he ever did a cancer screening,” Flynn posted on X. “When he pleads the 5th or mentions ‘executive privilege’—that’s all you need to know.”
MAGA commentator Benny Johnson described the situation as the “most dangerous cover-up in the history of the presidency.”
“You’re telling me that the best doctors and testing on earth did not *find* Biden’s cancer in all these years of testing?” he questioned on X. “Was every medical report a lie? For how long? Bulls–t… They knew. They lied. They hid it. For power. People need to be held accountable for this. Evil.”
A spokesperson for the Biden family did not respond to emailed questions sent by the Daily Beast.
O’Connor is a retired U.S. Army colonel who joined the White House’s medical team during the Bush administration. He was appointed to be Biden’s physician in 2009, when he was vice president, and O’Connor worked with the Biden family during Beau Biden’s battle with brain cancer. He is a doctor of osteopathic medicine, meaning he is not an MD. Osteopaths have a full scope of practice in the United States but cannot prescribe medication or perform surgery in Australia or the United Kingdom.
Both Trump’s current and former White House physicians are osteopaths. Trump’s first-term physician, now-Rep. Ronny Jackson, was criticized by Democrats for fawning over the president in medical assessments, including stating in 2018 that Trump had “incredibly good genes” and could live to 200 if he had a better diet.
Jackson did not hold back when criticizing his successor this week.
“This is either outright MEDICAL MALPRACTICE or a COVER-UP—plain and simple!” he posted to X. “The White House medical team is the BEST in the world, and the blame lies squarely on Joe Biden’s personal doctor—a known liar: Dr. Kevin O’Connor.”
On Fox News, Jackson told Sean Hannity, “I want to know, Sean, did he get diagnosed years ago, and have they been treating this behind the scenes without us knowing about this? That’s a distinct possibility.”
Jackson, 58, was demoted from being a real admiral to a captain in the U.S. Navy in 2022 after a Department of Defense probe found substantiated evidence of misconduct during his tenure as Trump’s physician, which included allegations he made sexual comments about a subordinate and inappropriately drank alcohol with subordinates. He no longer has an active civilian medical license, but he still delivered care to Trump after he survived an assassination attempt last summer.
Republican skepticism of O’Connor goes back years, partly because he has been described as a longtime friend of the Biden family. Even before Biden revealed his cancer diagnosis, there had been growing attention on his health after excerpts of Original Sin, a book that went on sale Tuesday, alleged his cognitive abilities had slipped significantly by 2024 and that the media failed to cover it adequately.
The latest questioning of O’Connor’s professionalism came from the very top of MAGA.
“I think that if you take a look, it’s the same doctor that said that Joe was cognitively fine, there was nothing wrong with him,” Trump said Monday. “If it’s the same doctor, he said there was nothing wrong there. That’s been proven to be a sad situation.”
The president added, “I think the doctor said he’s just fine, and it’s turned out that’s not so. It’s very dangerous. This is dangerous for our country. Look at the mess we are in.”
Trump said he doubts Biden’s cancer snuck past the doctors at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. Instead, he suggested it was O’Connor’s negligence or sneakiness.
“Why did it take so long? I mean, this takes a long time. It can take years to get to this level of danger,” Trump said of Biden’s late-stage prognosis. “It’s a very, very sad situation. I feel very badly about it. And I think people should try and find out what happened.”
Other conservatives have been more explicit in saying they want a head to roll for how Biden’s health was managed in the White House.
“He needs to be brought in, he needs to be subpoenaed, and he needs to answer some of these questions,” Fox News pundit Jesse Waters said of O’Connor during his show Monday. “Who knows if [Biden] even got tested. He was supposed to have had a full test a year ago, and they said there was no cancer detected. Well, we need to know exactly what tests they did.”
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