Former US President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis, along with successor Donald Trump, rekindled questions about whether he added his voice to those who suggested covering up his voice, whether he deceived the public about his health during his inauguration.
Speaking to a White House reporter on Monday, President Trump raised questions about the timing of Biden’s advanced cancer diagnosis during a detailed scrutiny of the former president’s physical and mental fitness during his tenure.
“I was surprised that the public hadn’t been notified long ago,” Trump told White House reporters.
“Why did it take so long? This takes a long time. It can take years to get this level of risk,” Trump added, referring to the advanced nature of Biden’s cancer.
“So, look, it’s a very sad situation. I feel very bad about it, and I think people should try and see what happened.”
Trump also said that doctors who looked into Biden during his time in office “hasn’t told the truth.”
“That’s a big problem,” he said.
Biden’s office said in a statement Sunday that the former president had been diagnosed with an aggressive form of prostate cancer that had spread to the bone.
The statement said Biden was diagnosed Friday after experiencing “increased urinary symptoms” and that he and his family are reviewing treatment options.
The statement says doctors score 9 with a score of 9 in the Gleason Classification System (usually classifying prostate cancers of 6-10), indicating that they are one of the most aggressive types.
According to Johns Hopkins Medicine, the average five-year survival rate for late-stage prostate cancer is 28%.
Biden expressed his gratitude to the wealthy people before Monday for their support and encouragement.
“Cancer touches us all,” Biden wrote on social media.
“Like many, Jill and I have learned the strongest in the broken place. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support.”
Cancer touches all of us. Like many of you, Jill and I have learned that we are the strongest in the places we broke. Thank you for lifting us up with love and support. pic.twitter.com/oss1vgiiwu
– Joe Biden (@joebiden) May 19, 2025
News of Biden’s cancer diagnosis came as the former president’s health was already under new scrutiny ahead of the publication of a new book detailing allegedly covering up his physical and mental deterioration by his inner circle.
Written by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson, Original Sin contains various awful accounts of Biden’s alleged decline, including an incident in 2024 that reportedly failed to recognize fundraiser and Hollywood actor George Clooney.
In comments on Biden’s diagnosis on Monday, Trump portrayed the connection between former presidential cancer and allegedly covering up his mental vision.
“If you look, it’s the same doctor who said Joe was cognitively healthy. There was nothing wrong with him,” Trump said.
“There are times when things happening that the public is not aware of. I think someone has to talk to his doctor,” he added.
Some doctors have publicly questioned the explanation of Biden’s cancer diagnosis provided by his office, noting that such advanced cancer had to progress over the years.
“Even the most aggressive form is a five- to seven-year journey without treatment before it spreads,” said pathologist Steven Quay, chief executive of Bioharmaceutical Company Atossa Therapeutics, in a post on X.
“So it’s medical malpractice that this patient was first diagnosed with metastatic disease in May 2025. During his time at the White House, he was diagnosed with prostate cancer, and it’s likely that Americans had ignored the information.”
Howard P. Forman, a professor of radiology at Yale University, said he was “unconceived” that cancer was not detected before Biden took office because he was picked up in a blood test known as the prostate-specific antigen (PSA) test.
“Gleason Grade 9 would have had an elevated PSA level for a while before this diagnosis. And he must have had PSA tests multiple times before. This is odd,” Forman said in a post on X.
However, Peter Nelson, an oncologist at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Center in Seattle, said that prostate cancer can develop rapidly and expand quickly in a short period of time, but remains localized without detection for years before it progresses to other parts of the body.
“Prostate cancer can develop and then spread over a very short period of time — short, within a year or two,” Nelson told Al Jazeera.
“So, yes, it’s reliable that a man of his age and position can develop and progress his cancer without detecting it. This is not common, but it definitely happens,” Nelson said.
Daniel W. Lynn, a prostate cancer expert at UW Medicine in Washington, said Biden is likely to have been suffering from cancer for many years, but may not have had PSA tests.
“There is controversy over the use of PSAs, and many medical groups do not recommend PSA testing after age 70 or 75, but some are recommended based on life expectancy and health status rather than age cut points,” Lynn told Al Jazeera.
Lynn said Biden could also have a rare cancer that cannot be detected in the test.
“This situation is less common, but it’s not considered excessively rare. And when this happens, it’s more common in high-grade cancer, such as in the case of former President Biden,” he said.
“When you play the odds, he doesn’t fall into this category, but it definitely can happen.”
Peter Black, director of the Vancouver Prostate Centre in Canada, said Biden’s cancer undetected in the test was clearly his best guess for a sudden diagnosis.
“My best guess is that he did a PSA for a long time each year, because that’s what you expect from the US Senator/Vice President/President and in fact he has an age-appropriate PSA that didn’t raise the alarm,” Black told Al Jazeera.
“The diagnosis of metastatic prostate cancer is usually associated with very high PSA, but in a small number of patients, PSA is actually normal,” he said.