Biden 'Continues to Be Fit for Duty,' His Doctor Says, after President Undergoes Annual Physical

President Joe Biden “continues to be fit for duty,” his doctor wrote Wednesday after conducting an annual physical that is being closely watched as the 81-year-old seeks reelection in November.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden's physician, wrote that the president is adjusting well to a new device that helps control his sleep apnea and has experienced some hip discomfort but also works out five times per week, The Associated Press said.
“President Biden is a healthy, active, robust, 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency,” O’Connor said in a six-page memo on the president’s health, following a physical that took Biden to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for more than 2 1/2 hours.
His memo added that Biden “feels well and this year's physical identifies no new concerns.”
The oldest president in US history, Biden would be 86 by the end of a second term, should he win one. His latest physical mirrored one he had in February last year when O'Connor described Biden as “healthy, vigorous” and “fit” to handle his White House duties.
Still, voters are approaching this year’s election with misgivings about Biden’s age, having scrutinized his gaffes, his coughing, his slow walking and even a tumble off his bicycle.
After he returned to the White House on Wednesday, Biden attended an event on combating crime and suggested that when it came to his health “everything is squared away” and "there is nothing different than last year.”
He also joked about his age and people thinking "I look too young.”
Former President Donald Trump, 77, is the favorite to lock up the Republican nomination later this month, which would bring him closer to a November rematch against Biden. Trump was 70 when he took office in 2017, which made him the oldest American president to be inaugurated — until Biden broke his record by being inaugurated at 78 in 2021.
O'Connor's report said that Biden’s stiff walking was no worse than last year and was the result of arthritic changes in his spine. He said the president also noted “some increased left hip discomfort.” There were no signs of stroke, multiple sclerosis, Parkinson’s or other similar conditions in what the report called an “extremely detailed neurologic exam.”
Biden, last summer, began using a continuous positive airway pressure, or CPAP, machine at night to help with sleep apnea, and O'Connor wrote that the president had responded well to that treatment and is “diligently compliant" about using it.
A recent special counsel’s report on the investigation into Biden's handling of classified documents repeatedly derided Biden's memory, calling it “hazy,” “fuzzy,” “faulty,” “poor” and having “significant limitations.” It also noted that Biden could not recall defining milestones in his own life such as when his son Beau died or when he served as vice president.
Still, addressing reporters the evening of the report's release, Biden said "my memory is fine” and grew visibly angry as he denied forgetting when his son died of brain cancer in 2015 at the age of 46.
White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said that O’Connor was one of a team of 20 different medical specialists who helped complete the physical.
Asked why Biden wasn't undergoing a cognitive test as part of the physical, Jean-Pierre said that O'Connor and Biden's neurologist “don't believe he needs one.”
“He passes a cognitive test every day, every day as he moves from one topic to another topic, understanding the granular level of these topics,” Jean-Pierre said, noting that Biden tackled such diverse issues as Wednesday's crime prevention event before his planned trip to the US-Mexico border on Thursday and next week's State of the Union address.
“This is a very rigorous job," she added.
That picture of the president doesn’t reflect the type of struggles with routine tasks that might indicate the need for further tests, said Dr. Michael Rosenbloom, a neurologist at the University of Washington School of Medicine.
“Constantly questioning older folks who may have an occasional lapse is a form of ageism,” Rosenbloom said.
From sleep apnea to arthritis, Biden’s health report “seems pretty run of the mill for an 81-year-old person,” said Dr. Jeffrey A. Linder, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine.
“His doctors are in a unique position to assess his cognitive ability on a daily basis,” Linder said. "These doctors are able to see how he’s functioning day to day. That’s much more useful” than a cognitive assessment.
Many Americans, including Democrats, have expressed reservations about Biden seeking a second term during this fall's election. Only 37% of Democrats say Biden should pursue reelection, down from 52% before the 2022 midterm elections, according to a poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
Biden counters that his age brings wisdom, and he has begun to criticize Trump for the former president’s recent public gaffes.
The president joked that his age was classified information and suggested during a taping in New York on Monday of “Late Night With Seth Meyers ″ that Trump mistakenly called his wife Melania, “Mercedes” during a weekend speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference -- though the Trump campaign says he was correctly referring to political commentator Mercedes Schlapp.
Trump has indeed had his share of verbal miscues, mixing up the city and state where he was campaigning, calling Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán the leader of Turkey and repeatedly mispronouncing the militant group Hamas as “hummus.” More recently, he confused his Republican primary rival Nikki Haley with former Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.
While he was president, Trump's annual physical in 2019 revealed that he had gained weight and was up to 243 pounds. With his 6-foot, 3-inch frame, that meant Trump's Body Mass Index was 30.4. An index rating of 30 is the level at which doctors consider someone obese under this commonly used formula.
Wednesday's report listed Biden as 6-foot tall and weighing 178 pounds.

A senior advisor to Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian has revealed that Iran’s leadership has reached a consensus on the necessity of engaging in direct negotiations with the United States.

This development coincides with Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei’s approval to revisit a long-delayed government proposal to comply with the requirements of an international body combating terrorism financing and money laundering. The proposal had been stalled for five years in the Expediency Discernment Council.

Ali Abdolali Zadeh, the special advisor to the president, stated that the ruling establishment has concluded that direct negotiations with the United States are essential. Speaking at a meeting with economic stakeholders, he emphasized the need for a “new foreign policy” and called for direct dialogue with US President-elect Donald Trump.

“We cannot leave the country’s issues unresolved. We must engage with dignity and prioritize our national interests,” he asserted.

Abdolali Zadeh, who led Pezeshkian’s presidential campaign, reiterated his stance from the elections, saying: “I stated during the elections that we must negotiate with Trump,” according to remarks reported by the reformist news agency ILNA.

Trump’s return to the White House has sparked discussions about how his administration might approach Tehran, particularly concerning Iran’s nuclear program, which has progressed to advanced levels of uranium enrichment close to weapons-grade capacity.

Both the incoming US administration and Iranian officials have sent mixed signals about whether they will pursue confrontation or explore diplomatic solutions once Trump assumes office on January 20.

Earlier on Tuesday, Pezeshkian announced a decision to review Iran’s accession to the Financial Action Task Force (FATF), an international organization overseeing financial regulations to prevent money laundering and terrorism financing. Iranian Economy Minister Abdolnaser Hemmati confirmed that Khamenei had authorized this step.

The presidential office reported that Pezeshkian’s remarks were in response to concerns from Chamber of Commerce members regarding barriers to economic activities.

Pezeshkian expressed hope that collaboration between government bodies could help facilitate economic progress. He stressed that solving the country’s challenges is not the sole responsibility of the government and highlighted the coordinated efforts of the executive, legislative, and judicial branches to remove economic obstacles.

The president reaffirmed his administration’s commitment to empowering the private sector and overcoming barriers, underlining the importance of joint efforts to address economic difficulties and ease the financial burden on citizens.

Hemmati also announced that Khamenei had permitted a reassessment of FATF-related matters by the Expediency Discernment Council.

Following Trump’s withdrawal from the nuclear deal and the reimposition of sanctions on Iran in 2018, foreign companies have insisted that Iran’s adherence to FATF standards is critical for attracting international investors.

France, Britain, and Germany have tied Iran’s removal from the FATF blacklist to its compliance with FATF regulations, which would allow the use of a special trade mechanism designed to bypass US sanctions. Similarly, Chinese officials have reportedly encouraged Iran to join FATF.

To achieve FATF membership, Iran must ratify the Palermo Convention on transnational organized crime and the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism (CFT).

Biden 'Continues to Be Fit for Duty,' His Doctor Says, after President Undergoes Annual Physical