Let's Revisit Joe's July 17, 2024 "COVID Diagnosis"

Yesterday I briefly referred to the July 17, 2024 health episode in Las Vegas that brought about a sudden change in Joe's schedule and a swift return via Air Force One to his Rehoboth Beach house. The White House's version, then and afterward, was that there was no medical emerency, Joe had simply tested positive for COVID, as outlined in the exchange embedded above between Fox reporter Peter Doocy and Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre on Thursday, July 18:

Peter Doocy: There's this new Las Vegas police radio traffic that's published by The Daily Beast where officers were racing to secure a hospital emergency room on July 17th. They were under the impression thwt President Biden was having a medical enmergency. What was It?

Karine Jean-Pierre: He was not. As you know, the president when we were in Vegas tested positive for COVID. We let you all know, and then we flew back here. Outside of that, there was no medical emergency. People are still testing positive for COVID, but because of this president, he was able to put forth a comprehensive, a comprehensive way to move forward with this pandemic, and now we have vaccines. . .

In light of the new revelation that Joe has stage 4 prostate cancer, it's worth delving again into the reports of his medical episode in Las Vegas on July 17 and putting it into the context of his withdrawal from the presidential race less than a week later, while he was still recovering from whatever it was in Rehoboth the following weekend. Here is one report of a hospital being placed on alert in connection with the episode:

A Las Vegas hospital was on standby after being alerted about a possible medical issue with President Joe Biden Wednesday afternoon while he was visiting Southern Nevada.

Law enforcement and medical teams gathered outside the University Medical Center trauma room entrance on Wellness Way in case the President of the United States arrived after he canceled an appearance at the Unidos US Convention in Las Vegas due to testing positive for COVID-19.

. . . "I'm happy that commander-in-chief is safe and doing well," Mason Van Houweling, CEO of UMC, said. "We prepare the perimeter set, lots of security measures, lots of training with our staff."

Due to the hospital being the only Level 1 Trauma Center in Nevada, that's where the president will go during a medical emergency.

Van Houweling said the hospital was alerted around 2:15 p.m. about a possible medical issue with the president.

The UK Daily Mail reported the actual radio traffic mentioned by Peter Doocy in his question to Karine Jean-Pierre:

[P]olice recordings from July 17th, obtained by DailyMail.com, show the hospital was ready to receive the president as law enforcement noted: 'POTUS is 421,' which is police code for a sick or injured person.

'For everyone on the radio. Right now POTUS is 421. He's being seen so we're kind of waiting to see how this is shaping out,' the dispatcher said. 'He's 421 right now. We're just trying to figure out what is going on and we're going to go from there.'

. . . Calling for 'any available units to come down to Valley Hospital,' a police officer says on the recording.

'I have four units,' is a response.

'That's not enough,' the dispatcher responds.

Additional officers were asked to meet at the 'Valley Hospital ER parking lot.'

'We're going to meet behind the ER entrances, where the ambulances go. There's a little cul-du-sac back there,' is the order given.

At the time of the episode, Biden was at the Lindo Michoacan restaurant, where he greeted patrons and conducted a radio interview -- not the sort of place you'd get COVID test results. But then something happened, about which we've never been told. The Daily Mail continues,

But then he stayed for another 90 minutes. His next event - speaking at UnidosUS - was canceled.

From about 1:40 pm PT - when Biden wrapped his radio interview - to shortly after 3 pm - when the motorcade left, it was unclear why the president remained inside the restaurant.

Mason Van Houweling, CEO of the hospital, told local media they was alerted around 2:15 p.m. about a possible medical issue with the president.

Apparently while the Biden party was still at the restaurant, a decision was made not to go to the hospital, but to return immediately to Rehoboth Beach, and the motorcade, including reporters, went to the airport. Another Daily Mail story carries an account from a reporter on the return flight:

Air Force One was flying so fast that I was shaking in my seat.

Less than 30 minutes ago, my colleagues in the White House press corps and I had received word – just before the rest of the world – that President Biden had been diagnosed with COVID.

Now we were joining him on a mad rush back from Las Vegas to the Bidens' Rehoboth Beach getaway in Delaware.

Moments after fastening my seatbelt, the massive engines of the presidential Boeing 747 roared to life.

The flight attendants, in their custom blue uniforms, stumbled in the aisles as the jet's nose pointed skyward.

Tray tables shook. Reporters held up their water glasses so they wouldn't spill.

A doctor always travels with the President, but no word came on the type of care he was receiving or how ill he was.

Twice, we asked White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who was also onboard, to give us an update on Biden's condition.

Twice, we were denied.

Even if she had spoken to us, there would have been no way to know what was coming.

That the president wouldn't be seen again in public for nearly a week.

The reporter also described the scene at the Lindo Michoacan restaurant when Joe arrived for his visit:

Biden would enter through the kitchen, we were told. Photographers had their cameras ready, wanting to capture a stylish photo of the president framed in the glass window of the door between the kitchen and dining room.

But suddenly, the Secret Service covered the window with a towel.

'Hey,' we yelled at the agents. But they didn't listen. Why they wanted to block that specific shot, when Biden would be pictured moments later in the dining room regardless, we still don't know.

When he finally stepped through the door, his appearance was shocking.

He looked pale, weak, exhausted and shuffled slowly across the room.

'He looks bad,' one reporter muttered.

The scene at his arrival at Dover Air Force Base later that night was similar:

Touching down, we rushed into position once more on the tarmac to watch the president deplane. And as the steps of Air Force One were lowered, we waited anxiously under the wing.

He began his exit at 10:29pm (EST), still looking pale and frail. He stepped down gingerly, then paused and waved.

Half way down, and for a few seconds, he stared off into space, until a Secret Service agent gently tapped his shoulder.

The touch seemed to rouse him and he continued down, appearing so unsteady that I was worried he would fall.

But he sluggishly made it to his SUV and shakily climbed inside for the hour-long ride to Rehoboth.

And this is the sum total of what we know, other than Ms Jean-Pierre insisting that none of it actually happened. I'm a medical layman and can draw no conclusions, except to note that the 90-minute delay before leaving the Lindo Michoacan restaurant after alerting the hospital must certainly have involved anxiety about the risks of putting Joe in a hospital where the doctors weren't under White House control. We don't know directly, but I think we csn assume that the White House physician, Dr Kevin O'Connor, a member of the Biden inner circle and Joe's personal doctor since 2009, was with the party and would want to be in charge.

The problem would be, however, that O'Connor would not have had hospital privileges at Valley Hospital, which would mean that Joe's diagnosis and treatment would be in the hands of hospital staff and the hospital's public relations department, not O'Connor and the White House press staff. O'Connor, as I understand this, could basically remain in the room, answer questions, and offer background information and advice, but it would be Valley Hospital doctors and nurses who would be examining and treating Joe, with the hospital determining what news would be released.

Since the news of Joe's prostate cancer came out, my working theory has been that Kevin O'Connor's task was to prevent Joe from being formally diagnosed with anything at all. This is confirmed in the latest Biden press statement:

In a statement to NBC News, Reuters and CBS News on Tuesday, May 20, a spokesperson for the former president, 82, said he received his last Prostate Specific Antigen (PSA) test in 2014, when he would've been in his early 70s. The spokesperson confirmed that Biden was not diagnosed with cancer until Friday, May 16.

“President Biden’s last known PSA was in 2014. Prior to Friday, President Biden had never been diagnosed with prostate cancer,” the spokesperson said.

This is almnost certainly weasel-worded, up there with Bill Clinton's what the meaning of is is. O'Connor and the Bidens must certainly have recognized that Joe had symptoms consistent with prostate cancer -- as represented by occasional slips of the tongue from brother Frank and Joe himself -- but no doctor had formally diagnosed it, and the White House physician's job was to make sure no reputable doctor ever got close enough to make a diagnosis.

This would also apply to the symptoms of dementia, possible ministrokes, or even Dr Drew Pinsky's suggestion that there's something like Parkinson's involved. If no doctor makes a formal diagnosis, Joe's in perfect health. But if he goes to Valley Hospital, reputable doctors outside White House control are going to insist on taking blood pressure, oxygen saturation, EKG, CAT scans, MRI, and the whole game will be up -- or if O'Connor refuses to let them do it, the whole game will be up. Best hop on Air Force One and bundle Joe back to Rehoboth Beach.

Which brings me to the inevitable question: the calls with Schumer, Pelosi, Jeffries, and so forth started within days of Joe's return to Rehoboth Beach. We've been told they were about the polls. What was really said? I'll bet the calls were much more about Joe's medical condition than the state of the polls.