US: Biden briefly transfers power to VP Kamala Harris

President Joe Biden, the oldest person to serve as president, briefly transferred power to Vice President Kamala Harris on Friday while under anesthesia during a routine colonoscopy at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center. He turns 79 on Saturday.

Harris, the first woman, person of color and person of South Asian descent to be vice president, made history during the one hour and 25 minutes she served as acting president. Press secretary Jen Psaki said Biden resumed his duties after speaking with Harris and White House chief of staff Ron Klain at approximately 11:35am

Interest in Biden’s health has been high ever since he declared his candidacy for the White House in 2019 and remains intense as speculation about a 2024 reelection bid swirls. The visit to the medical center in the Washington suburbs was for his first routine physical exam as president — and his first since December 2019.

While serving as acting president Harris was working from her office in the West Wing, Psaki said. She later traveled to Ohio once Biden awoke from the procedure.

During Biden's last physical exam, doctors found the former vice president to be “healthy, vigorous” and “fit to successfully execute the duties of the Presidency," according to a doctor’s report at the time.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, who has been Biden’s primary care physician since 2009, wrote in a three-page note that the then-presidential candidate was in overall good shape.

In that report, O’Connor said that since 2003, Biden has had episodes of atrial fibrillation, a type of irregular heartbeat that’s potentially serious but treatable. At the time, O’Connor cited a list of tests that showed Biden’s heart was functioning normally and his only needed care was a blood thinner to prevent the most worrisome risk, blood clots or stroke.

Biden had a brush with death in 1988, requiring surgery to repair two brain aneurysms, weak bulges in arteries, one of them leaking. Biden has never had a recurrence, his doctor said, citing a test in 2014 that examined his arteries.

Pursuant to the 25th Amendment to the Constitution, Biden signed letters to Sen. Patrick Leahy, who's president pro tempore of the Senate, and to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi at 10:10am, saying he would be unable to discharge his duties while under anesthesia, making Harris the acting president. Biden sent them each another letter upon the conclusion of the procedure to resume his duties at 11:35 a.m.

The White House said Biden would authorize the release of a medical report, as is customary for presidents and presidential candidates. Former President Donald Trump, 75, was sharply criticized for releasing only cursory details on his health while running and serving in the White House, including concealing the seriousness of his Covid-19 illness a month before the 2020 presidential election.