Joe Biden's stunning 'I have cancer' update and a White House clarification
US President Joe Biden, in a stunning claim today, said he has cancer, sending the White House press office into an overdrive to put out a clarification. President Bident was referring to the skin cancer treatment he underwent before taking office last year, the press office later said.
The president slid in the health announcement rather casually while speaking about global warming and the emissions from oil refineries near Claymont in Delaware, the neighbourhood he grew up in.
"My mother drove us rather than us being able to walk. And guess what? The first frost, you know what was happening? You had to put on your windshield wipers to get literally the oil slick off the window. That's why I, and so damn many other people I grew up with, have cancer and why, for the longest time, Delaware had the highest cancer rate in the nation," Biden said during a visit to a former coal mine plant in Massachusetts.
Following the announcement, social media were flooded with some users expressing their shock while others praying for the president's recovery.
However, the White House soon clarified.
According to Fox News correspondent Jacqui Heinrich, the White House said that Biden was referring to the skin cancer removal he underwent before taking office and that he mistakenly stated that he has cancer.
Glenn Kessler, a senior journalist with the Washington Post's Fact Checker, shared a 2021 medical report of the president which lists 'skin cancer surveillance' as one of the conditions Biden is suffering from.
"It is well-established that President Biden did spend a good deal of time in the sun in his youth. He has had several localized, non-melanoma skin cancers removed with Mohs surgery before he started his presidency. These lesions were completely excised, with clear margins. Total body skin exam was performed for dermatologic surveillance. Several small areas of actinic change were treated with liquid nitrogen cryotherapy, but there are no areas suspicious for skin cancer at this time. No biopsies were required (sic)," the report read.
