Biden’s doctor defends ‘excellent’ mental acuity, insists prez doesn’t have Parkinson’s-related ailment

WASHINGTON — President Biden’s physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor defended his boss’ “excellent” mental acuity Thursday as Republicans urge him to resign — insisting the president doesn’t have Parkinson’s or a related condition in what may be his first interview with a news outlet since Biden took office.

O’Connor answered The Post’s questions just four days after Biden abruptly ended his campaign for a second term as fellow Democrats called on him to step aside over his apparent mental decline — after Biden repeatedly appearing confused in public, which medical pundits said could be due to Parkinson’s.

“Are you Dr. O’Connor?” a Post reporter asked the presidential physician on the White House driveway as he walked past the press briefing room.

“I don’t know. I don’t know,” he sheepishly replied — before making clear he was indeed the elusive doctor and proceeding to answer questions about the commander-in-chief, whose quest for a second term collapsed following his dismal June 27 debate performance against former President Donald Trump.

“How’s the president’s health?” The Post asked.

“It’s excellent,” O’Connor insisted with a smile.

“Are you going to come to the briefing room to address us?” The Post inquired.

“Probably not,” answered O’Connor, who has never been allowed to brief the press during Biden’s more than three years in office — even though past presidential docs have taken questions during health crises.

“Could that change before the end of his term?” the journalist followed up.

“I hope not,” O’Connor said, as he seemed to recognize that he would be unable to cross the driveway just north of the West Wing due a cordon established following Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s arrival at the White House moments earlier.

“And how is his mental cognition?” The Post asked.

“It’s excellent,” the smiling doctor insisted.

“Is there a reason you didn’t perform a cognitive test on him?” the reporter pressed.

“We don’t need to. He’s here every day,” O’Connor claimed.

As O’Connor turned to walk away, The Post followed and asked, “Dr. O’Connor, is there anything to that speculation that there might be something related to Parkinson’s that he has?”

“No,” O’Connor said. “No, he’s good.”

“And the [Parkinson’s] specialist’s visits to the White House, did that have anything to do with that concern?” The Post added.

“No,” O’Connor said. “He’s seen him three times, my letter was clear.”

O’Connor is rarely heard from and a review of press clippings in the database Nexis turned up no other media interviews that he’s given during Biden’s presidency — though he did speak at a  2022 medical event  and spoke about his career and military service in a  February episode of the “WarDocs” podcast.

Biden did not address swirling questions about his health in a Wednesday night address to the nation on his decision to step aside and endorse Vice President Kamala Harris as his replacement on the Democratic ticket — saying only that it was time to “pass the torch.”

Biden insisted last week that he would forge ahead with plans to stand in the Nov. 5 election, telling BET in an interview taped last Tuesday that he’d only drop out “if I had some medical condition that emerged, if somebody, if doctors came to me and said, ‘You’ve got this problem and that problem.'”

The latest on President Biden’s decision to drop out of the 2024 presidential race:

• Biden drops out of presidential race: live updates
• Kamala Harris campaign flooded with ‘record-breaking’ $81 million in donations in first 24 hours after Biden drops out
• Top Dems threatened to forcibly remove Biden from office unless he resigned, set him up to fail at Trump debate: sources
• Schumer, Pelosi played ‘good cop, bad cop’ to convince Biden to drop out with ex-speaker stating, ‘Easy way or the hard way’
• Trump and JD Vance accuse Dems of leading ‘coup’ against Biden, call to ‘invoke the 25th Amendment’

Republican leaders such as House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio), have called on Biden to resign as president rather than serve out his term, which ends Jan. 20.

“If Joe Biden is not fit to run for President, he is not fit to serve as President. He must resign the office immediately. November 5 cannot arrive soon enough,” Johnson said Sunday.

Many medical experts said in the past month that they believe Biden likely has Parkinson’s or a related condition.

“I could’ve diagnosed him from across the Mall,” neurologist Dr. Tom Pitts told NBC this month — calling Parkinson’s “one of the easier movement disorders to diagnose” and pointing specifically to Biden’s “rigidity,” “shuffling gait” and “slow movement.”

He also cited Biden’s apparent “hypophonia” or using a “small, monotone voice,” which he said “over time is a hallmark of Parkinson’s.”