Cheyenne Suarez

Article (news)

Trump fuels Biden cancer cover-up claims

Agence France-Presse

<div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xPtI7MJZCJU?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><p>WASHINGTON - US President Donald Trump fueled speculation Monday that Joe Biden&#x27;s cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was &quot;surprised&quot; the public was not told about his predecessor&#x27;s condition earlier.</p><p>Republican Trump&#x27;s extraordinary claim came just a day after it emerged that his bitter Democratic political rival, 82, had an <a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/18/joe-biden-diagnosed-with-aggressive-prostate-cancer-0612">aggressive form of prostate cancer</a>.</p><p>Trump also tried to tie the issue into a wider political row -- sparked by a new book released this week -- about whether Biden&#x27;s White House covered up evidence of his cognitive decline while in office.</p><p>Biden had earlier Monday expressed gratitude for an outpouring of &quot;<a href="https://www.abs-cbn.com/news/world/2025/5/19/joe-biden-thanks-supporters-for-love-after-cancer-diagnosis-2028">love and support</a>&quot; following his shock diagnosis.</p><p>&quot;I&#x27;m surprised that the public wasn&#x27;t notified a long time ago,&quot; Trump told reporters in the Oval Office when asked for his reaction to Biden&#x27;s cancer.</p><p>&quot;It takes a long time to get to that situation, to get to a stage nine,&quot; he added, apparently referring to the announcement by Biden&#x27;s office that his cancer had &quot;a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5).&quot;</p><p>Prostate cancer that looks &quot;very abnormal&quot; is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score goes up to 10, indicating the seriousness of Biden&#x27;s disease.</p><p>Oncologists that AFP spoke with, however, said that screening limitations could very well have left Biden&#x27;s condition undetected until now, and that late identification of an advanced cancer would not be unheard of, even for a former president receiving top-of-the-line medical care.</p><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/lRjYcHYuyY4?&amp;t=26s&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div><div><br/></div><div><strong>- &#x27;Things going on&#x27; -</strong></div><p>Suggesting that tests when Biden was president should have picked up signs of the disease, Trump added: &quot;If you take a look it&#x27;s the same doctor that said Joe was cognitively fine.&quot;</p><p>&quot;There are things going on that the public wasn&#x27;t informed of.&quot;</p><p>Trump, who spent much of the 2024 election campaign bashing Biden&#x27;s cognitive fitness, had said in a statement on Sunday that he was &quot;saddened&quot; by the diagnosis.</p><p>But 24 hours later he was leaning into accusations by others in his orbit of a cover-up, including his son Don Jr.</p><p>Don Jr. questioned on Sunday whether the cancer should have been detected earlier -- and then on Monday boosted unfounded claims Biden had covered up a previous diagnosis.</p><p>He posted a clip of Biden -- whose son Beau died of brain cancer -- saying in an apparent gaffe in 2022 that &quot;I, and so damn many other people I grew up with, have cancer.&quot;</p><p>Vice President JD Vance meanwhile said that &quot;we really do need to be honest&quot; about Biden&#x27;s fitness.</p><p>&quot;You can separate the desire for him to have the right health outcome with a recognition that -- whether it was doctors or whether there were staffers around the former president -- I don&#x27;t think he was able to do a good job for the American people,&quot; Vance said after a meeting with Pope Leo XIV.</p><div><strong>- &#x27;Quick buck&#x27; -</strong></div><p>The cancer diagnosis comes amid swirling new questions in recent weeks over Biden&#x27;s health while in office, with a new book titled &quot;Original Sin&quot; by two journalists alleging his staff worked to conceal his decline.</p><p>Biden&#x27;s granddaughter Naomi lashed out at the book&#x27;s authors, CNN&#x27;s Jake Tapper and Axios&#x27; Alex Thompson, calling it &quot;a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck.&quot;</p><p>Biden&#x27;s team has consistently denied there was any effort to hide fears about his health.</p><p>His diagnosis had prompted an outpouring of support from other quarters, including Biden&#x27;s vice president Kamala Harris and ordinary Americans.</p><p>&quot;Cancer touches us all. Like so many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are strongest in the broken places,&quot; Biden said on social media on Monday, including a photo of him and former first lady Jill Biden.</p><p>&quot;Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.&quot;</p><p>Britain&#x27;s King Charles, 76, who himself is being treated for an undisclosed form of cancer, wrote to Biden over the weekend to express his well wishes, Buckingham Palace said.</p><p>The mental and physical health of Biden, the oldest person ever to hold the US presidency, was a dominant issue in the 2024 election.</p><p>After a disastrous debate performance against Trump, Biden ended his campaign for a second term.</p><div><em>dk/bfm</em></div><div><em>© Agence France-Presse</em></div>

<p>US President Donald Trump fueled speculation Monday that Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was "surprised" the public was not told about his predecessor's condition earlier.</p>

US President Donald Trump fueled speculation Monday that Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was "surprised" the public was not told about his predecessor's condition earlier.