Former President Joe Biden was diagnosed with an “aggressive form” of prostate cancer on Friday.
The diagnosis was revealed in a statement from Biden’s office on Sunday. The cancer has spread to his bones.
“Last week, President Joe Biden was seen for a new finding of a prostate nodule after experiencing increasing urinary symptoms,” read the statement. “On Friday, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, characterized by a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5) with metastasis to the bone.”
For prostate cancer diagnoses, grade 5 is the highest grade designation possible and the most aggressive form of the disease. It means the “cancer cells are abnormal and likely to grow and spread quickly.”
However, the statement from Biden’s office acknowledged that Biden’s prostate cancer was “hormone-sensitive,” a positive revelation for the former president.
“While this represents a more aggressive form of the disease, the cancer appears to be hormone-sensitive, which allows for effective management,” the statement said. “The President and his family are reviewing treatment options with his physicians.”
The news comes as Biden’s age-related health concerns have continued to be investigated, including in a new book out this week from CNN’s Jake Tapper and Axios’s Alex Thompson. On the day of Biden’s diagnosis, Axios released audio from Biden’s meeting with Robert Hur, which showed him forgetting key dates and details.
Minutes after the diagnosis was announced Sunday afternoon, former Barack Obama advisor David Axelrod said discussion of Biden’s mental acuity “should be more muted and set aside for now as he’s struggling through this.”
Biden dropped out of the presidential race in July over the same concerns, which Democrats have been reflecting on since losing the election. Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT), who has emerged as a Democratic attack dog, expressed regret over supporting Biden’s re-election campaign.
“I admit that by 2024 the American public had made up their mind, right, that they wanted the Democratic Party to nominate somebody new, and it was absolutely a mistake for the party to not listen to those voters,” Murphy told NBC host Kristen Welker.
“They wanted somebody younger,” he added. “It was a mistake for Democrats to not listen to the voters earlier and set up a process that would have gotten us in a position where we could have been more competitive that fall.”
In February 2024, White House physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor declared Biden “fit for service.” The assessment notably didn’t include a cognitive test. At the time, White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre explained the choice, saying the president “passes a cognitive test every day.”
MURPHY SAYS ONE ‘CAN’T DEFEND’ DEMOCRATIC PARTY’S 2024 ACTIOSN
Other Democrats have offered to broaden the analysis about the Democrats’ failure in 2024 from just Biden.
“He never should have tried to run for a second term, but we have issues on economics, issues on inflation, issues on border security, issues on identity politics, and education,” Rep. Adam Smith (D-WA) said on Thursday. “I think this is a healthy debate right now, it can’t primarily be about Joe Biden. That’s the past, it has to be about how we fix the Democratic Party brand and the Democratic Party coalition because that is what is going to matter moving forward.”
