The White House announced that President Joe Biden will temporarily transfer power on Friday to Vice President Kamala Harris while he undergoes a colonoscopy under anesthesia during his annual physical.
Harris will work from her West Wing office at the White House while the president undergoes his colonoscopy, press secretary Jen Psaki said.
Biden traveled to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center Friday morning for a physical, one day before his 79th birthday. The oldest person ever elected to the White House, Biden has been subject to questions of his mental acuity that have tugged away at his approval ratings.
Psaki said the White House would release a summary of the president’s physical later Friday. The White House press secretary also tweeted that Biden called Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in the morning to congratulate her on the House passing his signature $1.7 trillion spending package earlier in the day.
Harris will follow protocols used twice during the presidency of George W. Bush when he had the same procedure, Psaki said in her statement. Bush’s father, George H.W. Bush, also served as acting president in 1985 while President Ronald Reagan had surgery to treat colon cancer.
Source: Politico
