Topline
President Donald Trump on Friday said not to “feel so sorry” for former President Joe Biden, who announced a cancer diagnosis earlier this month, and criticized Biden as “vicious”—just over a week after Trump and other Republicans suggested Biden may have hidden his illness from the public.
Biden, who was diagnosed with stage 4 prostate cancer, said his “prognosis is good.”
Key Facts
Trump, who spoke in the Oval Office on Friday, called Biden a “somewhat vicious person,” adding, “If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel sorry for him, because he’s vicious.”
Trump did not clarify why he referred to Biden as vicious, though he did cite “what [Biden] did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt” while arguing Biden had “hurt a lot of people.”
Biden, 82, revealed he had stage 4 prostate cancer earlier this month and told reporters Friday his prognosis is “good,” and “the expectation is we’re going to be able to beat this.”
Crucial Quote
“[Biden’s] been a sort of moderate person over his lifetime,” Trump said. “Not a smart person, but a somewhat vicious person, I will say. If you feel sorry for him, don’t feel so sorry, because he’s vicious. What he did with his political opponent and all of the people that he hurt—he hurt a lot of people, Biden, so I really don’t feel sorry for him.”
Trump, Other Republicans Suggested Biden’s Cancer Was A ‘cover Up’
Last week, Trump said that while he was “very sad” about Biden’s diagnosis, he was “surprised” the “public wasn’t notified a long time ago,” adding to similar comments from other Republicans, including Vice President JD Vance, who asked, “Why didn’t the American people have a better sense of [Biden’s] health picture?”Donald Trump Jr. questioned whether the news was “yet another coverup???” Rep. Ronny Jackson, R-Texas, who served as Trump’s former White House physician, said it is “unbelievable” Biden’s diagnosis was “missed,” claiming Biden’s physician “was more concerned about assisting with the political cover-up than providing world-class medical care.” Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., however, said while he believed Biden’s “declining mental acuity was covered up, it is medically reckless to assume his prostate cancer was as well.”
Key Background
Chris Meagher, Biden’s spokesperson, disputed claims Biden had withheld his diagnosis,, and noted Biden’s last-known screening test came in 2014 and had not previously been diagnosed with prostate cancer. His diagnosis was announced in a statement on May 18 the former president was diagnosed with a “more aggressive form” of prostate cancer. Almost immediately, experts questioned how long Biden had known about his cancer. Ezekiel Emanuel (brother to Rahm and Ari), an oncologist at the University of Pennsylvania who advised the Biden administration during the pandemic, claimed Biden likely “had this for many years” and possibly “had [cancer]
while he was president.” Biden’s diagnosis was characterized by a Gleason score of 9 in Grade Group 5, meaning his cancer cells look “very abnormal” and the cancer is “most likely to grow back and spread quickly,” according to the American Cancer Society.
Further Reading
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