Topline
Vice President JD Vance appeared to insinuate Monday former President Joe Biden might have hidden his cancer diagnosis from the American public while he was in office—fueling speculation of a cover-up.
Former President Joe Biden during a farewell event with staff at Joint Base Andrews in Suitland, MD … More
Key Facts
Vance, when asked about Biden’s diagnosis of stage 4 prostate cancer, replied, “why didn’t the American people have a better sense of his health picture? Why didn’t the American people have more accurate information about what he was actually dealing with?”
The questions echo those on the right who have repeated claims made during Biden’s presidency that he was concealing a serious illness.
A clip of Biden saying during a July 2022 speech that an oil spill in Delaware was the reason “I and so damn many other people I grew up [with] have cancer”—what was widely viewed at the time as one of Biden’s many gaffes—is being reshared on social media.
Right-wing activist Laura Loomer—and noted conspiracist— claimed last summer Biden was “in the terminal stage of his illness” and “had a medical emergency on Air Force One” is also getting renewed attention (Loomer cited an unnamed “medical source in DC,” though her claims were never verified).
Some doctors have also said it’s unlikely Biden’s diagnosis was sudden, given its advanced stage and accessibility to routine prostate screening: Yale professor of radiology and biomedical imagining Howard Forman tweeted that it’s “inconceivable” Biden’s prostate health wasn’t being followed before he left office.
Vance, who spoke to reporters as he returned from a trip to Rome to meet the new pope, also said Biden’s announcement—which came days before the Tuesday release of a damning new book about his mental state during his 2024 campaign—shouldn’t stop further scrutiny into his cognitive health during the campaign: “In some ways, I blame him less than I blame the people around him,” Vance said.
What To Watch For
“Original Sin,” by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’ Alex Thompson is set to be released Tuesday and is expected to be one of the most damning pictures to date of what the authors describe as a “cover up” of his declining mental state, including claims that aides discussed the possibility of him needing a wheelchair.
Key Background
Biden has “a more aggressive form” of “hormone sensitive” prostate cancer that’s “characterized by a Gleason score of 9 with metastasis to the bone,” meaning the cancer is likely to grow and spread quickly, his spokesperson said in a statement over the weekend. Biden received the diagnosis Friday after a “small nodule” was identified in his prostate earlier this month, the spokesperson said.
Tangent
Biden posted a photo on X Monday of him and Jill Biden, thanking well-wishers. “Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places,” quoting Ernest Hemingway.
Further Reading
Joe Biden Diagnosed With ‘Aggressive’ Form Of Prostate Cancer (Forbes)
Trump, Obama And Other Leaders From Both Parties Send Well Wishes To Biden After Cancer Diagnosis (Forbes)
