The White House physician is a close friend of the Biden family and helped the president's brother with a business deal in 2017

White House physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor is being questioned over a possible conflict of interest due to his "intimate" friendship with the Biden family and his involvement in a business deal with Jim Biden, the president's brother.

According to documents obtained by Politico, O'Connor has had a very close relationship with the Biden family for more than a decade, adding to speculation about the health status of President Biden, who relies on the credibility of the health assessment supplied to him by the White House physician periodically.

According to Politico, O'Connor has served as a close medical advisor to the Biden family for many years, to the point that he is considered a "close" friend of the presidential family. The relationship with the Bidens goes far beyond that.

In 2017, when Jim Biden, the president's brother, was exploring opening a commercial venture to secure veterans-related contracts, "O’Connor introduced him to a military-focused medical team and accompanied him to a meeting with a hospital president," notes the cited media report.

The collaboration began in the middle of that year, when Jim Biden began working on health care projects with Americore, a hospital chain that was in serious trouble. The president's brother's goal was to use Americore's facilities to treat veterans with alcoholism and post-traumatic stress disorder problems, seeking, in this way, to alleviate the large number of patients falling on the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA).

While Jim Biden was exploring the possibility of pursuing this business, the president's own brother testified to impeachment investigators that Dr. Connor introduced him to a leader of a group that conducted PTSD testing on military bases. The idea of the contact was to get VA support for his project.

That's when in June of that year Jim Biden and O'Connor met with Beverly Annarumo, the president of a hospital in Ellwood City, Pennsylvania, that Americore was about to acquire.

According to e-mails obtained by Politico, Annarumo said she was enthusiastic about collaborating with them to help veterans in the area.

"It was a pleasure to meet with the two of you on Wednesday. I am very excited about the possibility of bringing help to the Veterans in our area," Annarumo wrote. "Please let me know if there is anything else that I can provide that would help ensure that your vision for our Veterans becomes a reality."

The email was responded to by the White House physician himself.

"I truly enjoyed our time together the other day," O'Connor responded. "You and your team clearly share our vision, and I look forward to seeing you again in coming months."

Much more than business with Jim Biden

O'Connor's intimate relationship with the Biden's causes particular concern after The New York Times revealed that the president's doctor had met with a Parkinson's disease specialist who visited the White House eight times in eight months.

This situation has stoked a new round of speculation about Biden's health status, who since the last presidential debate has faced strong internal pressure to drop out of the presidential race due to his age and fitness to remain in office or campaign.

According to Politico, O'Connor's ties to the Biden's are extensive and longstanding.

In 2018, the president's sister-in-law, Sara Biden, described O'Connor as a "friend" who frequently gave medical advice to her family.

A year and a couple of months earlier, in 2016, when Joe Biden was close to leaving the vice presidency, O'Connor emailed more than a dozen Biden family members thanking them for their friendship and inviting them to his retirement ceremony before his planned departure from the Army in July 2017.

“You’ve all been a really important part of my life for the past eight years,” O’Connor wrote, “and I hope that will continue.”

At the time, O'Connor was then-Vice President Biden's government-assigned military physician.

But O'Connor's ties to the Biden's are even older, going back to 2013-2015. Back then, the doctor closely assisted in Beau Biden's battle against terminal brain cancer.

Because of this close link, some experts believe the situation reveals a deep conflict of interest.

"That compounds the problem," Matthew Algeo, historian and author of "The President is a Sick Man," a book about Grover Cleveland's cover-up of a cancer procedure in 1893, told Politico. "You’re working for the guy you’re examining, and he’s your buddy. It’s just a lose-lose situation."