Joe Biden should take cognitive test, says ex-White House doctor

US Representative Ronny Jackson served as White House doctor under former presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Donald Trump

Jackson led a group of 14 Republicans who sent Biden a letter on Thursday urging him to take a cognitive test and make the results public

2-MIN READ2-MIN

Former White House doctor Dr Ronny Jackson at the White House in Washington, DC in 2018. Photo: AP

Published: 6:02am, 19 Jun 2021Updated: 6:21am, 19 Jun 2021

The former White House doctor who gave a glowing report in 2018 about former US President Donald Trump’s cognitive abilities is calling on President Joe Biden to take the same test.

US Representative Ronny Jackson led a group of 14 Republicans who sent Biden a letter on Thursday urging him to take a cognitive test and make the results public.

Jackson served as White House doctor under former presidents George W Bush, Barack Obama and Trump. In 2018, he gave Trump a clean bill of health after an annual physical and cognitive test that came amid questions about Trump’s mental fitness to serve.

US President Donald Trump shakes hands with White House doctor Ronny Jackson, following his annual physical in 2018. Photo: AFP

At the time, Jackson said it was the first instance he knew of a cognitive test being administered to a sitting president, saying Trump was “mentally very sharp”.

“We believe that, regardless of gender, age, or political party, all presidents should follow the precedent set by former President Trump to document and demonstrate sound mental abilities,” Jackson and his Republican colleagues wrote in their June 17 letter to Biden.

The Trump campaign made Biden’s mental fitness a major piece of its 2020 campaign. In campaign ads and rallies, Trump sought to paint Biden as mentally unfit to serve. His mental fitness has been a regular target for misinformation spreading online.

Biden, 78, is the oldest president in American history.