Former Biden COVID advisor and Obamacare architect Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel said Monday that former President Joe Biden likely had cancer since the beginning of his presidency, if not before.
Biden's office confirmed in a statement on Sunday that he had been diagnosed with an "aggressive form" of prostate cancer that "was characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone."
Based on the advanced state of the cancer, Emanuel, an oncologist, told MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" that Biden would most likely have had the cancer for "more than several years."
Host Joe Scarborough stopped him to clarify, "So this is not speculation. If you have prostate cancer that has spread to the bone, then most certainly you are saying he had it when he was President of the United States."
MEDICAL EXPERT 'ABSOLUTELY SHOCKED' BY TIMING OF BIDEN'S PROSTATE CANCER DIAGNOSIS
Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel called the idea of former President Biden's office keeping his test results hidden "troubling." (Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Klick Health)
"Oh, yeah. He did not develop it in the last 100-200 days," Emanuel said. "He had it while he was president. He probably had it at the start of his presidency in 2021. I don't think there's any disagreement about that."
Scarborough pointed out how some men over the age of 70 choose not to get a prostate exam but added "most men aren’t President of the United States."
Emanuel said that it’s often a discussion between patients and doctors but agreed it’s concerning when it involves a sitting president.
"President Obama had this test. President Bush had this test. It is a little surprising that the doctor didn’t take it. And if he took it and didn’t report it, and it was elevated, that is another case of doctors not being straightforward with us – we’ve had several of them with President Trump, especially around his COVID diagnosis – and if that is true, that would be very troubling," Emanuel said.
Biden's office confirmed on Sunday that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer. (Saul Loeb – Pool/Getty Images)
He added that it was possible for a test to miss this stage of cancer but called it "unlikely."
"Either they didn’t test for it, or they test for it [and] they didn’t report it. And we didn’t get the information as a public," Emanuel said.
