Former U.S. President Joe Biden’s office says he had not been diagnosed with prostate cancer prior to last week, and his last recorded screening for the disease was over a decade ago, as per Al Jazeera.
The statement comes amid growing political controversy and speculation from critics, including current President Donald Trump, who questioned the timing and transparency of the diagnosis. Trump claimed the cancer must have been present for years and accused Biden’s team of withholding vital information from the public.
“President Biden’s last known PSA [prostate-specific antigen] test was in 2014,” the former president’s office said in a brief statement. “Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer.”
Biden, 82, was diagnosed last Friday with an advanced form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to his bones. His medical team reported a Gleason score of 9, indicating an aggressive cancer type. The Gleason scale ranges from 6 to 10, with higher scores associated with more dangerous disease progression.
President Trump responded on Monday, expressing disbelief at the timing of the announcement. “Why did it take so long?” Trump asked reporters at the White House. “Somebody is not telling the facts, and that’s a big problem.”
Medical experts have weighed in on the issue, noting that while Biden’s case is uncommon, it is not implausible. Dr. Adam Weiner, a urologic surgeon at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, said, “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.”
Weiner added that current U.S. health guidelines, including those from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), do not recommend routine prostate cancer screening for men over 70 due to potential harms from overtreatment.
Dr. Nick James, a prostate cancer expert at The Institute of Cancer Research in London, described the situation as “plausible even if a bit unusual.” He noted that some aggressive prostate cancers do not produce elevated PSA levels, meaning they could go undetected in standard blood tests. He also pointed out that prostate MRIs, another diagnostic tool, carry a risk of false negatives.
The revelation has reignited scrutiny over Biden’s health and fitness for office—a recurring concern throughout his presidency and reelection campaign. Biden ended his campaign after a widely criticized debate performance against Trump in June.
Further allegations of a cover-up emerged Tuesday with the release of Original Sin, a book by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson. The book alleges that Biden’s inner circle deliberately concealed signs of his physical and cognitive decline, including an incident in which he allegedly failed to recognize actor George Clooney at a fundraiser in 2024.
Biden’s diagnosis, and the questions surrounding it, add to a broader national conversation about the health transparency of high-ranking public officials—particularly those in or seeking the presidency.
