Biden Cancer Announcement Raises New Questions Over White House Transparency

The news that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer has raised fresh questions about his White House’s transparency.

Biden’s office said in a statement on Sunday that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer on Friday, with the cancer cells having spread to the bone.

The news prompted some to question whether Biden may have known about the cancer long before he left office in January since it can be detected early with a prostate specific antigen (PSA) test. However, a professor of oncology told Newsweek that there is no benefit to such screenings and that Biden’s cancer likely “developed rapidly.”

Why It Matters

Biden’s age and health were dominant concerns among voters during his time as president. The 82-year-old dismissed concerns about his mental acuity but ultimately dropped his bid for a second term following a disastrous debate performance in June last year. He was replaced as the Democratic nominee by then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who lost the election to President Donald Trump.

The White House faced scrutiny over its transparency while Biden was president. But new questions have been raised about what the Biden administration and campaign hid from the public, with an upcoming book alleging White House aides covered up Biden’s physical and mental decline.

However, there is no current indication publicly available that Biden was diagnosed with cancer during his term as president.

What To Know

Prostate cancers are graded for aggressiveness using what is known as a Gleason score, which ranges from 6 to 10. Biden’s office said his score was 9, suggesting his cancer is among the most aggressive.

Since Biden’s office announced the news, some doctors have questioned whether Biden knew he had cancer before leaving office.

Howard Forman, a professor of radiology and biomedical imagining at the Yale School of Medicine, said it is “inconceivable” that Biden’s cancer was not being followed before he left office.

“Gleason grade 9 would have had an elevated PSA level for some time before this diagnosis,” he wrote on X, formerly Twitter. “And he must have had a PSA test numerous times before. This is odd.”

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), men who are 70 and older should not be routinely screened for prostate cancer. But Forman questioned whether Biden “really never had screening these past dozen years” or if he “had a normal PSA prior to 70.”

He added: “It’s just so odd to discover this with bone [metastasis] in a man of his stature and access to care.”

Dr. Nick James of the Institute of Cancer Research in the U.K., whose work focuses on new treatment approaches to bladder and prostate cancers, told Newsweek that he finds it “very surprising” that the former president’s first diagnosis showed the cancer has metastasized.

“I can’t say it’s impossible,” he said. “It has to be possible, but it is very unusual if you’re having regular health checks to suddenly go from non-metastatic, not detectable to metastatic, very detectable.”

Dr. David Shusterman, a urologist, told NewsNation that the type of cancer Biden has takes years to develop. “To me, it seems very surprising that the first diagnosis would be a metastatic diagnosis,” he said.

He added that Biden “most likely he had prostate cancer for a long time.”

However, Jonathan Waxman, a professor of oncology at Imperial College London and the founder and president of Prostate Cancer UK, told Newsweek that while prostate cancer usually “develops very slowly over the years,” Biden “has a high grade cancer which develops relatively rapidly.”

Waxman added that no clinical trial has “shown any benefit from screening and this is why there is no national screening program for prostate cancer unlike breast cancer.”

But while James stressed the importance of screening, he acknowledged that some “significant cancers don’t make PSA.”

“It’s possible that you can have metastatic prostate cancer with a normal PSA and that they didn’t also scan his prostate as part of the health checks,” he said. “You can envisage scenarios where he can go from a normal PSA to metastatic cancer, but it is very unusual.”

Representative Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican and urologist who has treated prostate cancer patients for decades, said it was “medically reckless” to suggest a cover-up regarding Biden’s prostate cancer.

“A man with a ‘below normal’ PSA can still have prostate cancer,” Murphy wrote on X. “This is why a rectal examination by your physician must ALSO be done. Unfortunately, some doctors are forgoing critical examination and relying only on the blood test. Make sure your doctor does both.”

In another post, Murphy questioned why someone “running for President of the United States, especially someone who is elderly, did not have these examinations.”

But other Republicans and Biden critics, including President Donald Trump’s eldest son, suggested that Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer far earlier than announced.

Donald Trump Jr. questioned on X if it is “yet another cover-up,” sharing a post from physician-scientist Dr. Steven Quay, who called prostate cancer “the easiest cancer to diagnose” and said it was “highly likely” Biden was diagnosed with prostate cancer “throughout his White House tenure.”

Others, including Trump ally Laura Loomer, have seized on a 2022 clip of Biden saying Delaware pollution was the reason “why I, and so damn many other people I grew up with, have cancer.” A spokesperson for the Biden White House clarified at the time that he was talking about having non-melanoma skin cancers removed before he became president.

But Loomer wrote on X that Biden “has had cancer for a while” and that White House physicians “have long been suspected of fabricating his medical records.”

Costas Panagopoulos, a professor of political science at Northeastern University, told Newsweek that he doubts Biden’s cancer was diagnosed while he was in office.

“If they did know, I don’t see why they would have decided to hide it,” he said. “It would have been an understandable reason to bow out of the 2024 presidential race gracefully, perhaps even to step aside and let Harris take the reins and set her up as the Democratic standard bearer going into the election.”

He also said it “seems to me that Biden would not have wanted to forestall treatment for nearly a year.”

When prostate cancer spreads to other parts of the body, it often moves to the bones. Metastasized cancer is much harder to treat than localized cancer because it can be difficult for drugs to reach all tumors and completely root out the disease.

However, when prostate cancers need hormones to grow, as in Biden’s case, they can be susceptible to treatment that deprives the tumors of hormones.

According to the CDC, prostate cancer is the most common cancer among men aside from non-melanoma skin cancer. While the majority of prostate cancer cases are detected at an earlier stage, some can be diagnosed when the cancer has spread to other parts of the body.

The CDC said 70 percent of prostate cancer cases were diagnosed at a localized stage, meaning the cancer had not spread outside the prostate, between 2017 and 2021. Fourteen percent were found at a regional stage, meaning it had spread to nearby lymph nodes, tissues or organs and 8 percent were found at a distant state, when it had spread to distant parts of the body.

What People Are Saying

Former President Joe Biden, on X on Monday: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”

Jonathan Waxman, a professor of oncology at Imperial College London and the founder and president of Prostate Cancer UK, told Newsweek: “Usually prostate cancer develops very slowly over the years. The president would have been tested for prostate cancer whilst in office. It is likely that his cancer developed rapidly.

“No clinical trial has shown any benefit from screening and this is why there is no national screening program for prostate cancer unlike breast cancer.”

Dr. Nick James of the Institute of Cancer Research in the U.K. told Newsweek: “I just assumed the president United States has health tests galore all the time. I find it surprising that he wouldn’t have been getting regular PSAs as part of that and regular scans. And to then, depending on the interval between the tests to go from nothing to very widespread cancer between whatever interval they health check the president, is rather surprising.”

Dr. David Shusterman, a urologist, said on NewsNation: “In the modern age of medicine, especially the fact that he was a former president, he had intensive state-of-the-art care…it’s very unusual to hear that someone has prostate cancer where they’re annually being followed up and the fact that we just find it at a Gleason nine is just pretty much unheard of in this day and age of medicine.”

Representative Greg Murphy, a North Carolina Republican and urologist, on X: “While definitely agree that Biden’s declining mental acuity was covered up, it is medically reckless to assume his prostate cancer was as well. I have treated prostate cancer patients for 30+ years. Let’s get the politics out of medicine.”

Representative Ronny Jackson, a Texas Republican and Trump’s former White House physician, on X: “Sad and unfortunate and I wish the former President the best in his treatment of this cancer. Care at the White House should be second to none. Unbelievable this was missed, but the truth is, his physician was more concerned about assisting with the political cover up than providing world class medical care.”

Thomas Gift, an associate professor of political science and director of the Centre on U.S. Politics at University College London, U.K., told Newsweek: “Observers should be hesitant about speculating who knew what and when about Biden’s cancer diagnosis until all the evidence comes in. However, if the White House wasn’t transparent about this facet of Biden’s health, those on the inside will have a lot to answer for. We already know the administration misrepresented Biden’s mental acuity, so this will only heighten the scrutiny his family faces in the coming days and weeks.”

What Happens Next

Biden’s office said that while he has “a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management.”

It added that Biden and his family “are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”