A physician who specializes in Parkinson’s condition and met with President Joe Biden’s doctors earlier this year, among other White House trips, doubles as a donation to the president’s election campaign, records show.
According to Federal Election Commission files, Dr. Kevin Cannard of Walter Reed Medical Center has cut normal checks on Biden’s campaign since February 2020, whose White House visits were discovered by the New York Post on Saturday and sparked more inquiries about his health for business after his poor debate efficiency. The giving is small in terms of national elections, an average of$ 77 spread across 44 funds, totaling over$ 3, 300 as recently as May 30, but news of the assessments comes as Republican lawmakers demand solutions from Biden’s doctor, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, about whether Biden “remains fit to successfully perform the duties of the administration” and express concerns over possible discrimination in medical assessments of Biden.
” Given that the Parkinson’s disease expert who met with Dr. O’Connor is a Biden donor, Americans should be rightly troubled by the potential clouding of the validity of both the President’s medical assessments and mental state”, Rep. Andrew Clyde ( R- GA ) told the Washington Examiner. These medical professionals should be honest and open with the American people and refrain from trying to win political advantage by keeping important details out of the hands of our commander in chief.
Cannard, who has worked at Walter Reed for almost two decades, supports the White House medical unit, according to his LinkedIn profile. Other than Biden, Cannard has donated to the former campaign for Michael Franken, a Democrat who unsuccessfully ran in 2022 against Sen. Chuck Grassley ( R- IA ).
In the telling of Rep. Ronny Jackson ( R- TX ), who was a doctor for both former Presidents Donald Trump and Barack Obama, it is “highly likely” Cannard and O’Connor were discussing Biden during their Jan. 17, 2024 meeting. The meeting, the New York Post reported, also featured Dr. John E. Atwood, a cardiologist at Walter Reed.
” He should only be … treating the president and the first family”, Jackson said of O’Connor, noting his chief responsibility is Biden’s health.
Cannard’s largest single donation to Biden,$ 500, was in April, according to campaign finance disclosures. On January 26 of this year, Cannard met with Megan Nasworthy, who coordinates Biden’s primary care, on the same day he also donated to the president’s campaign.
Cannard did not respond to a request for comment. A representative for the White House acknowledged to the Washington Examiner that” a wide variety of Walter Reed system specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work on the grounds.” At a press briefing on Monday about Cannard’s visits, White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre declined to respond to a number of questions.
Tom Jones, director of the conservative American Accountability Foundation watchdog group, told the Washington Examiner,” The American people deserve an objective assessment of whether Biden is fit to do the job.”
On Sunday, House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer ( R- KY ) sent a letter to O’Connor to request a transcribed interview. Comer is investigating O’Connor’s February assessment that Biden “is a healthy, active, robust 81- year- old- male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency”.
Comer is concerned that O’Connor’s opinions of Biden have been influenced by his previous involvement with a since-bankrupt healthcare company linked to the Biden family.
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” According to the Washington Post, three of your ‘ former colleagues in the White House medical unit… said]President ] Biden’s debate performance suggested to them that the president should undergo cognitive screening,'” Comer wrote in the letter to O’Connor. ” After his disastrous debate performance, medical professionals began to urge President Biden to take a cognitive test, but your continued insistence that [President ] Biden not need testing was overruled by your continued support.” The President is unable to offer insight because he is unwilling or unable to do so.
Biden, despite facing increasing calls from Democrats not to run for reelection, has vowed to stay in the race. He joined MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Monday to urge Democrats to challenge him at the Democratic National Convention in August, asserting that he “would n’t be running again if I did not absolutely believe I was the best person to defeat Donald Trump in 2024 .” He also appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe to claim that he “would n’t be running again.”
