Biden's doctor says he remains 'fit for duty'

I want to get to some breaking news now. Also medical related this time for President Biden. This right here results of his annual physical he had at this morning lasted several hours top line right and we're looking through this because this is just out is basically that his doctor says the president remains fit for duty and fully executes all his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations. Mike Memley is also paging through this and is just joining us now so ma'am you know the physical points out the sort of biggest thing that happened to Joe Biden the last year was getting covid last summer right. I mean walk us through what this says. So this is a five page detailed summary from the president's physician Dr. Kevin O'Connor and most of the points that are made here are status quo right the president same as last same as the last physical which was just 15 months ago and he had a much more extensive work up then because it included a colonoscopy and endoscopy procedures that are much more invasive than what the president did today.

You highlighted what is the big piece of new information which relates to of course his covid diagnosis last year I think significantly at a time when a lot of people are worried about the long term effects of covid the president's physician's assessment is that there are no indications of long covid for the president. I think some of the things that people are most concerned about based on what we see out of the president every day he is often clearing his throat and coughing is assessment in this medical report is that it's a continued sign of gastro-logical reflux acid reflux to be good. Exactly and that his condition hasn't worsened his gait is still stiff whoever thought we'd be talking about a presidential gait but yes he still is showing signs of when he was tripped over by his dog. Has not improved and he's wearing orthopedics to try to deal with that. He also had a detailed neurological examination and found no cause for concern. So as you said the bottom line assessment from Dr. Kevin O'Connor is that the president remains a healthy vigorous 80 year old man who is fit to successfully execute the duties of president of the United States.

We all just need no reminder than what we saw yesterday from Nikki Haley of why this is important. Yes. I was just going to bring that into you because the doctor says at the end here Dr. Kevin O'Connor says the president remains a healthy vigorous 80 year old male which is exactly what Democrats will point to if the president does decide to as everyone expects announced this 2024 run but you are hitting the nail on the head because just yesterday Nikki Haley on the Republican side raised these questions about not just President Biden but former President Trump and their age and their fitness for office. And ultimately as important as this medical report is what the president himself always says when these questions are raised to him is just watch me. The American people are going to make their own assessment about whether they think this man is able to continue to be president well into his mid 80s which he would be if he's reelected. That's why the state of the union was so important last week to see him having that kind of vigorous back and forth with Republicans to be quick on his feet.

Those are the kinds of things I think the American people are looking for. And but it's also worth noting there are some items on the to do list before President Biden can run for reelection. One of them was to get this medical report out. Oh interesting. I think we're like a step closer. So we're a step closer. They still have to build out that campaign and be ready to launch all indications are we're a couple months away from that still happening.

Mike Memley very interesting. Thank you for breaking this down for us. Not a doctor and you know play one on TV but it still works out really well. Thank you sir. Appreciate it. Thanks for watching our YouTube channel. Today's top stories and breaking news by downloading the NBC News app.

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