By Nikki Schwab, Senior US White House Political Correspondent for Dailymail.Com
14:05 28 February 2024, updated 15:00 28 February 2024
- President Joe Biden made an unscheduled exit from the White House on Wednesday morning
- The 81-year-old president told reporters he was going to Walter Reed for his annual physical
- For months, voters have expressed concern that Biden, the oldest president in history, may not be effective in a second term because he will leave office at 86
President Joe Biden left the White House on Wednesday morning for Walter Reed, where he will undergo his annual medical as voters raise concerns about the 81-year-old’s fitness for a second term.
The White House faces lingering questions about when Biden, the oldest president in history, will get his test ahead of the November 2024 presidential election.
“I’m going to Walter Reed to get my checkup,” Biden told reporters as he walked across the South Lawn toward Marine One.
The White House said the results would be released later Wednesday.
For months, polls have shown that a majority of Americans doubt that Biden can be effective in a second term that will end when he is 86 years old.
During last year’s evaluation by White House physician Kevin O’Connor, also released in February, the doctor said Biden remained “fit for work.”
O’Connor said Biden’s gait “remains stiff” but said he remains “healthy” and “energetic.”
Every morning, Biden goes to a 45-minute workout with his physical therapist, who focuses on balance exercises to stop him from falling and address his stiff gait, DailyMail.com has learned.
Last year’s medical also included an “extremely detailed neurological examination” which found nothing “consistent with any cerebellar or central neurological disorder”.
“He does not demonstrate motor weakness, but a subtle difference in hot/cold sensation may be elicited,” the 2023 letter added.
In November 2021, the president was placed under surveillance so doctors could perform a routine colonoscopy, and he briefly turned over power to Vice President Kamala Harris.
Beyond opinion polls, Biden’s mental competency became a political issue earlier this month when special counsel Robert Hurr, originally appointed by former President Donald Trump, released a report on his investigation into classified documents.
Hur wrote that the jury would likely conclude that Biden, 81, had “diminished faculties” and was “a well-intentioned, elderly man with a poor memory.”
The release of the report forced the president to give an impromptu press conference.
Biden told reporters, “I know what the hell I’m doing! My memory has not deteriorated. My memory is fine. Look what I’ve done since I became president.
“No one thought I could go through any of the things that went through me. How did this happen? I guess I just forgot what was going on,” the president added.
But before the end of his Q&A, Biden made a gaffe — calling Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi “the president of Mexico.”
The president has also been plagued by physical spills, including falling off his bicycle during a trip to Rehoboth Beach in June 2022, tripping over a sandbag at an inauguration ceremony in Colorado in June 2023, and falling down the stairs of Air Force One on a handful of occasions.
