Joe Biden's announcement that he was diagnosed with prostate cancer has recovered problems with the health issues that the former U.S. president was dealing with while at the White House.
The 82-year-old was diagnosed Friday after seeing a doctor out of urine symptoms, Biden's office said in a statement Sunday.
Some doctors were surprised that the aggressive forms were already spread on the bones.
Others point out that cancer can grow rapidly without the patient showing symptoms - and men over 70 are not screened frequently.
President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that his predecessor should be more transparent to the public, which seems to suggest that — without evidence — has masked the cancer diagnosis.
"I think it's actually very sad. I'm surprised the public didn't inform the public," Trump said at an event at the White House.
“It can take years to reach this dangerous level.
Biden has not responded to Trump's comments, which came after reports of Democratic aides trying to cover up other deteriorating health conditions to the public ahead of the 2024 election.
Republicans claim that Biden, who ran for the oldest president in history at the age of 81, was neither mentally nor physically suitable for office. He quit the competition last summer after a disastrous debate performance with Trump.
According to Primitive Sin, a new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, Biden cannot endorse Hollywood actor and Democratic donor George Clooney, or recall the name of his key aide in his last year in office.
"Biden's physical deterioration - most obviously in his stop walking - has become so serious that internal discussions put the president in a wheelchair, but they can't do it until after the election," the author wrote.
The propaganda generated by the book forced senior Democrats to raise questions about why they responded more to Americans’ concerns about Biden’s health when they ran for reelection.
"It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to voters earlier," Senator Chris Murphy said on Sunday.
After Biden's diagnosis, Vice President JD Vance wished him all the best, but then asked Biden's doctor or staff if he tried to make the public unaware of his health.
He added: “This is not how kids play, we can pray for physical health, but also realize that if you are not physically fit enough to do the job, then you shouldn’t do the job.”
Oncologist Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel is a co-advisor to Biden’s White House, and is the one who claims that Biden may have cancer and may not necessarily have cancer for a period of time.
He told MSNBC Morning Joe Show: “He hasn’t developed in the last 100, 200 days. “He probably had it when he was in the presidency in 2021. Yes, I don't think there is any difference in this. ”
U.S. medical guidelines do not recommend routine screening for men over the age of 70 because prostate cancer can grow very slowly and the harm of testing and treatment may outweigh the risk of cancer.
Biden has been previously diagnosed with benign enlargement of the prostate. In 2019, before he was elected, his campaign released a report from medical examinations, saying he had received medication and surgery and had "never suffered from prostate cancer."
This raises questions about whether Biden was tested at any time during his four-year term and why the diagnosis was so late.
"I think the former president has a very thorough physical condition every year," Dr Chris George of Northwest Health Network told Reuters. "For me, it's hard to believe that he's been through (blood checks) in the past year."
However, Dr. Robert Figlin, interim director of Cedars Cancer, told the BBC that Biden's aggressive ways of cancer are not uncommon. He warned critics not to "assuming something was missed along the way."
According to the Cleveland Clinic, prostate cancer is the second most common cancer in men.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 13 out of every 100 U.S. men will be diagnosed with prostate cancer in their lifetime, while two to three men will die.