The american president Joe biden underwent a colonoscopy on Friday and temporarily transferred powers to Kamala Harris, the White House said. At around 5:35 p.m. (Paris time), Joe Biden had already resumed his duties. Earlier in the day, he arrived at Walter Reed Medical Center in Bethesda, Maryland, for a “routine” check-up on the eve of his 79th birthday. Kamala Harris’ interim therefore only lasted 1 hour 25 minutes.
The situation had already arisen during the presidency of George W. Bush, in 2002 and 2007. A major difference, the vice-presidency was then in the hands of a man, and Kamala Harris thus became for a little more. hour, the first woman in US history to hold the presidency.
The president is “fit” to fulfill his function
Joe Biden is “in good health” and “fit” to serve as President of the United States, according to a detailed account released by his doctor on Friday. The doctor notes that the president, who will turn 79 on Saturday, is taking three prescription drugs and two non-prescription drugs. He also points out that Joe Biden has a stiffer gait and a frequent cough, which he attributes, however, to minor ailments.
Already in 2019, the democrat had been declared “healthy” and “vigorous” by his doctor when he was a candidate for the Democratic primary. The American president, who does not smoke or drink, is fully vaccinated against Covid-19, and received his third dose at the end of September.
Biden’s social reform plan voted in the Senate
He is the oldest president in U.S. history and has made it public that he plans to run for his own succession in 2024, but his age is fueling speculation he might step down. If Joe Biden did not stand for re-election, Kamala Harris, 57, would be seen as a natural candidate for the Democratic camp, although most observers so far have a mixed record of her tenure as vice president.
In the meantime, political life is taking its course in the United States, where the elected representatives of the House of Representatives voted on Friday the gigantic plan of social reforms of the president, the first crucial step before an adoption which promises to be difficult in the Senate.