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The announcement on May 16 that former President Joe Biden has been diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer sparked a wave of public concern and political scrutiny over the transparency of his health while in office.
According to the official statement, Biden, 82, is battling a high-grade form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones, with a Gleason score of 9 — a marker of aggressive disease.
The diagnosis, while tragic, has prompted tough questions: Did the White House know about Biden’s deteriorating health? And if so, was it intentionally kept from the public?
These questions are magnified by the release of a forthcoming book by CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson titled Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. The book alleges that top aides, including Ron Klain, Mike Donilon, and Steve Ricchetti, were aware of Biden’s physical and cognitive decline during his presidency and worked actively to shield him from scrutiny.
The book mentions incidents of Biden forgetting the names of long-time staffers and becoming increasingly dependent on cue cards and pre-screened engagements.
Naomi Biden, the former President’s granddaughter, dismissed the book in a post on X, calling it “political fairy smut,” while also criticizing Tapper and CNN for pushing the narrative.
A spokesperson from the former Democratic president's camp acknowledged that Biden had not undergone a prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test since 2014 — well before his 2020 election.
"President Biden's last known PSA was in 2014," the spokesperson said. "Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer."
While PSA screenings are not always recommended for men over 70, experts were surprised by the complete lack of follow-up, especially for someone with Biden’s high public responsibility.
This isn’t the first time a sitting president’s health has been obscured. Former President Franklin D. Roosevelt concealed the full extent of his polio and congestive heart failure from the public. Another former President Woodrow Wilson’s 1919 stroke was hidden, with his wife, Edith Wilson, quietly assuming many presidential duties.
In a statement following his diagnosis, Biden acknowledged the outpouring of public support, stating: “Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in broken places.”
