Joe Biden has been forced to deny claims he concealed his prostate cancer after Donald Trump questioned the timing of his shock diagnosis.
The former US president, 82, said he received his “last known” prostate-specific antigen test more than a decade ago.
“Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” a spokesman for Mr Biden said.
Cancer touches us all. 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. pic.twitter.com/oSS1vGIiwU
— Joe Biden (@JoeBiden) May 19, 2025
He also suggested that at least one doctor had previously claimed Mr Biden was “cognitively fine” — something he claims later turned out to be “not so”.
Trump told reporters inside the Oval Office on Monday: “I think it’s very sad, actually. I’m surprised that the public wasn’t notified a long time ago because to get to stage nine, that’s a long time.
“Why did it take so long? I mean... this takes a long time, can take years to get to this level of danger.
“I think people should try and find out what happened... Maybe it was the same doctor and somebody is not telling the facts.”
Meanwhile, his eldest son Donald Trump Jr took aim at Mr Biden’s wife Jill for failing to miss the signs of her husband’s prostate cancer.
He posted on X, formerly known as Twitter: “What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup???”
There is no such thing as stage five cancer, although it appears to be a sarcastic swipe at Mrs Biden, who has a doctoral degree in education.
Dr Ronny Jackson, Trump’s former physician, said the White House was “more concerned about assisting with the political cover up than providing world class medical care.”
Some medics have noted that prostate cancer screenings are generally not recommended for men over the age of 70 and that some cancers do not show up in blood and urine samples.
Adam Weiner, an urologic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, told Al Jazeera: “It is entirely reasonable, albeit sad, that even a person of President Biden’s position may present with a new diagnosis of prostate cancer that is metastatic at his age.”
“It is entirely possible he was screened for prostate cancer up to the recommended age and his newly diagnosed prostate cancer first occurred sometime since then.”
Mr Biden ran against Trump in the 2024 presidential election before dramatically withdrawing from the race in July amid concerns about his cognitive decline.
He was replaced as the Democratic candidate by his vice-president Kamala Harris, who lost the election to Mr Trump in November.
Mr Biden’s last physical exam at Walter Reed took place in February last year and was overseen by his personal physician, Dr Kevin O’Connor, who declared the then-president “fit for duty”.
