(The Hill) – President Biden will temporarily transfer power to Vice President Harris on Friday as he goes under anesthesia for a routine colonoscopy.
Biden will get the procedure done at Walter Reed Medical Center as part of his annual physical, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said in a statement.
“As was the case when President George W. Bush had the same procedure in 2002 and 2007, and following the process set out in the Constitution, President Biden will transfer power to the Vice President for the brief period of time when he is under anesthesia,” Psaki said. “The Vice President will work from her office in the West Wing during this time.”
The White House will release a summary of the results of Biden’s physical later Friday, Psaki said.
Biden, who will turn 79 on Saturday, was the oldest president in U.S. history at the time he was sworn-in. His age has been a source of attacks from Republicans, and it has made the results of his annual physical a point of interest.
Biden last released the results of a medical assessment in December 2019 during the presidential campaign. That assessment was completed by his longtime physician, Kevin O’Connor, who Biden has tapped to serve as the top physician in the White House.
The transfer of power while the president is under anesthesia is not unusual, as Psaki noted, though it was a point of contention during the Trump administration.
Former Trump press secretary Stephanie Grisham alleged that then-President Trump would not go under anesthesia for a colonoscopy when he was abruptly taken to Walter Reed in 2019 because he didn’t want to transfer power to then-Vice President Mike Pence.
