Washington, Nov. 19 (BNA) President Joe Biden will briefly transfer power to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday when he undergoes a “routine colonoscopy” at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the White House said.
Biden drove early Friday to the suburban Washington Medical Center for his first routine physical exam as president. Press Secretary Jen Psaki said Biden would be sedated during the operation and would transfer power to Harris, the Associated Press reported.
“As was the case when President George W. Bush performed the same procedure in 2002 and 2007, according to the process set forth in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for a brief period of time when he is under sedation,” she said. West during this time.
Biden, 78, had his last full test in December 2019, when doctors found the former vice president to be “in good health, active” and “fit to successfully carry out the duties of the presidency,” according to a doctor’s report at the time. Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, is the oldest person to hold the office of president, and concern about his health has been high since he announced his candidacy for the White House in 2019.
Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who has been Biden’s primary care physician since 2009, wrote in a three-page memo that the then-presidential candidate was in generally good shape.
In that report, O’Connor said that since 2003, Biden has had episodes of atrial fibrillation, a potentially dangerous but treatable type of arrhythmia.
At the time, O’Connor cited a list of tests that showed Biden’s heart was working normally and that his only care he needed was blood thinners to prevent his most worrisome risk, blood clots or stroke.
Biden was hit by the brush of death in 1988, which required surgery to repair a brain aneurysm, and weak bulges in his arteries, one of which leaked. Biden’s doctor said Biden never had it again, citing a 2014 test that checked his arteries.
Pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Biden will sign a letter to the interim president of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives saying that he is unable to perform his duties under anesthesia, making Harris the acting president, and will do so. Send another message to them when the procedure is over to resume their duties.
Harris, the first woman of color and of South Asian descent to hold the position of Vice President, will make history during her short tenure as acting president. She is scheduled to travel to Ohio later on Friday once Biden resumes his duties.
On Friday afternoon, Biden is scheduled to participate in the annual Thanksgiving turkey pardon.
When Biden took office, he sent O’Connor back to the White House to continue his work as a physician, and O’Connor was expected to lead a team of experts in doing Biden’s physical examination on Friday.
Once the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in early 2020, Biden’s team took extensive steps to keep the then-nominee and incumbent president healthy as the virus spread and took a disproportionate toll on the older population. Biden received his first dose of the COVID-19 vaccines in December 2020 and the second dose just two weeks before he took office.
He received a booster dose, which regulators say provides more lasting protection, in late September.
The White House said Biden would authorize the release of a medical report, as is customary for presidents and presidential candidates. Former President Donald Trump, 75, has come under fire for only releasing quick details about his health during his run for work and service in the White House, including concealing the severity of his COVID-19 illness a month before the 2020 presidential election.
NS