The White House stated on Monday (8) that President Joe Biden was not being treated for Parkinson’s disease during a press conference. But Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre sometimes struggled to be heard amid a barrage of questions about the health of the 81-year-old president.
She confirmed that he had been examined three times by a neurologist but refused to say why a Parkinson’s disease specialist visited the White House eight times in eight months, citing concerns about privacy and security.
However, this response simply triggered an uproar among reporters, who bombarded her with questions demanding a proper explanation.
The president’s health has been under intense scrutiny since his unstable performance during his first debate with Donald Trump in the campaign for this year’s presidential election.
Several Democratic donors are urging the president to step aside and make way for a younger candidate. One of them, actor George Clooney, a major fundraiser for Biden, wrote in an op-ed in The New York Times on Wednesday (10) that Biden was too old to seek re-election and should end his campaign.
Clooney, who last month organized a $28 million fundraiser in Hollywood for Biden, which his campaign said was the largest ever for a Democratic candidate, is by far the most prominent figure in the party to call for the president to end his campaign.
Journalists say that the White House is not being forthcoming in its responses regarding the president’s health. The result has been a series of investigations into possible neurological conditions, ranging from Parkinson’s disease to hydrocephalus.
But Biden seems determined to stay in the race. On Monday, he sent a letter to Democratic lawmakers saying he would not abandon the campaign. Later, he made a surprise call to MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to criticize elites who, according to him, do not understand the support he has among the Democratic base.
Source: Daily Mail and The New York Times