President Joe Biden has responded to rampant speculation about a “cover-up” of the true state of his health.
Biden’s office said Tuesday that his last known test for prostate-specific antigen (PSA) was in 2014. The blood test is used to screen for prostate cancer, which the 82-year-old former president was diagnosed with last week.
“Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” a statement by his office read.
Biden’s team said Sunday that he was diagnosed with a “more aggressive form” of prostate cancer that has spread to his bones. His tumor was “characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5),” meaning that it ranked highly on the grading system for prostate cancer.
Many of President Donald Trump’s allies and supporters jumped on the news with wild claims that Biden and the Democratic Party had long been aware of the cancer diagnosis, but decided to cover it up to remain in power or evade pressing questions about his health.
President Donald Trump boosted those conspiracies on Monday by urging people to “try and find out what happened… Somebody is not telling the facts. That’s a big problem.”
But the revelation that Biden’s last PSA test was 11 years ago, when he was just over 70 years old, aligns with longstanding medical guidelines about testing for prostate cancer.
The U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, an independent panel of experts, “recommends against PSA-based screening for prostate cancer in men 70 years and older.”
“Older men are more likely to have false positive test results,” the U.S. CDC says, adding that “screening finds prostate cancer in some men who would never have had symptoms from their cancer in their lifetime.”
The Harvard Medical School advises men over 70 to get a PSA test only if they’re willing to get a prostate biopsy and undergo treatment immediately if the biopsy reveals cancer cells.
“If a man older than 70 answers ‘yes’ to both questions, is otherwise in good health and has a life expectancy of at least 10 years, getting a PSA test might be a reasonable choice,” it said.
Yet some conservatives remained unconvinced by the latest statement from Biden’s office.
Nick Sortor, a right-wing influencer, called it “absolute bulls–t.”
“SUBPOENA BIDEN’S DOCTOR!” he wrote on X.
Republican Congressman Ronny Jackson, a former Trump physician, said it was “unbelievable” that Biden’s last PSA test was in 2014.
“Dr. Kevin O’Connor was his doctor the entire time,” he said. “MALPRACTICE!!!”
RedWave Press, a popular X account for “conservative-based news,” wrote: “I find this hard to believe.”
