White House Press Secretary: ‘President Doesn’t Need a Cognitive Test’

A report from President Biden’s doctor has cleared him for duty and deemed a cognitive test unnecessary.

President Joe Biden attends a meeting with Congressional leadership in the Oval Office of the White House on Feb. 27, 2024. Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre has told reporters during a briefing President Joe Biden doesn’t need a cognitive test to prove his mental fitness to continue working in the Oval Office.

The president has faced increasing scrutiny over his age, 81, amid multiple verbal and physical missteps that have raised concerns over his cognitive abilities. At 81, President Biden is the oldest to have held the office in the history of the United States. He would be 86 years old at the end of a potential second term.

In the Feb. 28 White House briefing, Ms. Jean-Pierre said the president’s doctor and a neurologist had cleared him for duty and deemed a cognitive test unnecessary. She also argued that President Biden “passes a cognitive test every day, every day, as he moves from one topic to another topic, trying, understanding the granular level of these topics.”

“If you look at what a clinical cognitive test is actually, what it actually does, it is a 15-minute appointment that is administered by someone that, most of the time, people don’t actually know,” she added.

In an accompanying memo from President Biden’s doctor, Kevin O'Connor, he said there are “no new concerns” with the President’s health revealed by this year’s physical. According to Dr O'Connor, an “extremely detailed neurological exam” showed there were no findings consistent with any disorders such as stroke, multiple sclerosis or Parkinson’s, and the motor skills were classed as “excellent.”

“The President feels well and this year’s physical identified no new concerns. He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations,” Dr O'Connor said.

“President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency, to include those as chief executive, head of state and commander in chief.”

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Former President Donald Trump raises his fist during the Black Conservative Federation Gala in Columbia, S.C., on Feb. 23, 2024. Sean Rayford/Getty Images

Dr. O'Connor’s assessment is in direct contrast to a recent Feb. 5 report by Special Counsel Robert Hur, who was tasked with probing President Biden’s handling of classified documents, which did not produce an indictment due to the negative assessment of the president’s functional memory. In the 345-page report, Special Counsel Hur said the President’s memory “appeared to have significant limitations” and described him as “a well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory.”

“He did not remember when he was vice-president, forgetting on the first day of the interview when his term ended … and forgetting on the second day of the interview when his term began,” Special Counsel Hur said in his report.

“He did not remember, even within several years, when his son Beau died. And his memory appeared hazy when describing the Afghanistan debate that was once so important to him.”

Democrats and President Biden have criticized the report, calling it a “partisan hit job.” They have also tried to shift focus to former President Trump, who will turn 78 in June.

In a Feb. 28 video posted on the social media platform Truth Social, former President Trump said Democrats have started spreading disinformation about him to distract from Joe Biden’s “mental and physical” state.

During his Feb. 24 speech at the Conservative Political Action Conference, it has been claimed former President Trump became confused and mixed up his wife’s name. According to former President Trump, that’s not factually accurate.

“I made the statement that Melania was very popular, because when I mentioned her name, the audience went wild,” he said.

“I then looked at the two people, man and wife, Mat and Mercedes Schlapp. And I said, Wow, they really liked the First Lady. So this got taken as the fact that I thought Mercedes was the First Lady. It has nothing to do with that.”

Former President Trump cited his lengthy speeches at campaign rallies without using a teleprompter as proof that his cognitive abilities are above reproach.