Biden says annual physical exam ‘went well’

President Joe Biden traveled Thursday to Walter Reed National Military Medical Center for a routine physical exam as he prepares for an expected 2024 presidential election run.

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Update 5:47 p.m. EST Feb. 16: President Joe Biden told NBC News that “everything really went well” after his three-hour medical checkup at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland.

“Thank God for small favors,” Biden told the news organization.

In a news release, the White House described the president as “a healthy, vigorous 80-year-old male.”

The release added that Biden is “fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency.”

White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said a colonoscopy was not part of Biden’s checkup, according to The Associated Press.

-- Bob D’Angelo, Cox Media Group National Content Desk

Original report: White House officials said the results of the exam will be released later Thursday.

Biden, 80, last received a standard medical exam and coloscopy in November 2021, according to Reuters. The president was then found to be “a healthy, vigorous 78-year-old male, who is fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency,” according to his physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor.

Biden has not officially announced plans to run for reelection, although he has several times indicated that he plans to run. He is currently the oldest serving president.

Several people have expressed concerns about Biden’s expected reelection bid, with many indicating that his age might pose an issue, The Associated Press reported. A recent poll from The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research found that only 37% of Democrats and 22% of overall Americans believe he should run in 2024.

Asked last week about concerns over his age, Biden said, “Watch me.”

“It’s all I can say,” Biden said in an appearance on “PBS NewsHour.”

“I would be completely, thoroughly honest with the American people if I thought there was any health problem, anything that would keep me from being able to do the job. … So, we’ll see. But, you know, I just — I think people have to just watch me.”

Before Biden, President Ronald Reagan was the oldest person to lead the country, leaving the White House in 1989, when he was 77 years old. If Biden is elected to a second term, he will be 86 by the time he leaves office.

No other Democrats have yet announced plans to run for president in 2024. Former President Donald Trump, former Cranston, Rhode Island, Mayor Steve Laffey and Nikki Haley, who served as governor of South Carolina and ambassador to the United Nations, have announced bids for the Republican presidential nomination.

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