A Parkinson's expert has visited the White House at least eight times in eight months, and the press secretary is unable to dispel concerns about Biden's health

UPDATE: Hours after Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to answer about why a neurologist has visited the White House, Biden's physician releases a letter explaining it.

"President Biden has not seen a neurologist outside of his annual physical," Dr. Kevin O'Connor writes.

Eight times, eight months. 

The New York Times reported this July 8 that an expert on Parkinson's disease from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center visited the White House eight times, since last summer. When confronted about it, President Joe Biden's spokeswoman dodged the question.

"The expert, Dr. Kevin Cannard, is a neurologist specializing in movement disorders who has recently published a paper on Parkinson's. The records, released by the White House, document visits from July 2023 through March of this year. More recent visits, if there have been any, would not be made public until later, according to White House disclosure policy," read the New York Times.

It is unclear whether the visits Dr. Cannard made to the White House were for consultations with President Biden. According to records, the doctor also visited the White House between 2012 and 2016, during Barack Obama's second term, when Biden was vice president.

In a statement to the press, a White House spokesman, Andrew Bates, without referring specifically to Dr. Cannard, said that "a wide variety of specialists from the Walter Reed system visit the White House complex to treat the thousands of military personnel who work."

Bates also said a neurologist checks President Biden annually and has seen no signs of Parkinson's. 

"He is not being treated for [the disease]," Bates said.

However, the spokesman declined to name the neurologists and also did not specify the dates on which Biden allegedly would have been checked. "There have been no further neurological visits," the spokeswoman said.

An elusive press secretary

White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was confronted later in the day about information related to Dr. Cannard. Jean-Pierre declined to answer clearly and instead dodged questions about the Parkinson's expert's visits.

"The president has seen a neurologist three times, as part of an annual checkup, as we have told him," Jean-Pierre said during the routine press briefing.

CBS White House correspondent Ed O'Keefe was incisive, and the upset secretary demanded respect, but would not finish talking about Dr. Cannard's visits.

"Every time you have a checkup, you have to see a neurologist. That's answering your question. Yes, that's answering. You're asking me... I told you, Ed, for security reasons we can't share names. I'm not going to share names. It's for security reasons. I'm not going to do it, no matter how much you push me," Jean-Pierre said of Dr. Cannard.

However, the information on Cannard's visits is already public and on his web pages, the doctor clarifies that he is a White House physician.

"At Monday's daily briefing, Jean-Pierre refused to discuss Dr. Cannard or acknowledge his White House visits, even after The New York Times and other news organizations reported on the records. He claimed unexplained 'security reasons' and at other times said the doctor deserved 'some privacy,' even though the White House had already disclosed his name and made the visits public," reads the Times.