President Joe Biden's disclosure of a late-stage prostate cancer diagnosis has triggered scrutiny from top oncologists, political leaders, and former colleagues, many of whom now question whether the disease had been known-and possibly concealed-during his time in office. The diagnosis, revealed over the weekend, indicated that the 82-year-old is facing aggressive metastatic prostate cancer, with a Gleason score of 9, signaling the cancer has likely been present and undetected for years.
"This is not speculation," MSNBC host Joe Scarborough said on-air, pressing Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, a former member of Biden's COVID-19 advisory board, about whether the cancer could have developed post-presidency. "If you have prostate cancer that has spread to the bone... then he most certainly... had it while he was president."
Emanuel agreed. "He did not develop it in the last 100-200 days. He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency, in 2021," he said. "I don't think there's any disagreement about that."
Doctors outside the administration echoed that view. "It is inconceivable that this was not being followed before he left the Presidency," Dr. Howie Forman, a professor at Yale, wrote on X. He added that prostate-specific antigen (PSA) tests, a routine screening for men over 50, would have shown elevated markers earlier given the disease's severity.
Biden's team confirmed the diagnosis came after urinary symptoms prompted additional testing. "While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive which allows for effective management," his team said.
The revelation came days before the release of CNN anchor Jake Tapper's book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. CNN analyst Brian Stelter called the timing "extraordinary" and suggested it would "briefly put on pause" the conversation about Biden's cognitive capacity, which had dominated headlines in recent months.
President Donald Trump, Biden's former rival, expressed sympathy but questioned transparency. "I'm surprised that ... the public wasn't notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine [sic], that's a long time," Trump said. "Somebody is not telling the facts. It's a big problem."
Trump misstated the cancer stage-there is no stage 9. Biden's condition, based on metastasis to the bone, is classified as stage 4, the most advanced level.
Speaking aboard Air Force Two, Vice President JD Vance said, "We really do need to be honest about whether the former president was capable of doing the job." Vance added, "That's not politics. That's not because I disagreed with him on policy. That's because I don't think that he was in good enough health."
Biden's final presidential physical was conducted in February 2024. At the time, White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor described him as a "healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency." No evidence of cancer was noted. In 2023, Biden had a basal cell carcinoma removed from his chest, requiring no further treatment.
Critics, including Vance, have argued that staff and White House medical professionals bear responsibility for shielding the full extent of Biden's condition. "Why didn't the American people have a better sense of his health picture?" Vance asked. "This is a guy who carries around the nuclear football."
Biden acknowledged the outpouring of public support in a post on X. "Cancer touches us all," he wrote. "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."
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Sunday that President Trump continues to "trust his physicians" and maintains confidence in his own health care team at Walter Reed.
