(Washington) Joe Biden resumed his presidential duties on Friday, which he had transferred for a medical examination to Kamala Harris, who briefly became the first woman to exercise presidential power in the United States.
Returning to the White House, the Democratic president bowed, with visible satisfaction, to the tradition which wants him to grant before Thanksgiving his pardon to two turkeys – named Peanut Butter (peanut butter) and Jelly (jam) in homage to a very popular sandwich.
Turkey is an iconic dish for Thanksgiving, one of the most watched popular holidays in the United States, which Americans will celebrate next week.
After a speech punctuated with jokes for the most part untranslatable into French and interspersed with giggles from the two birds, a smiling Joe Biden mingled with the visitors for a long time, posing for photographs and joking with children in the rose garden of the White House.
“My check-up went very well,” he said, leaving around 2:05 pm local Walter Reed hospital, on the outskirts of Washington.
PHOTO OLIVIER DOULIERY, FRANCE-PRESS AGENCY
Joe Biden leaving Walter Reed Hospital
Arriving a little later at the White House the president, smiling, had said: “I feel good. ”
Joe Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, underwent a “routine” colonoscopy under anesthesia.
He transferred his prerogatives to Vice President Kamala Harris at 10:10 a.m., under the conditions provided for by the US Constitution. Then took the reins “at about 11:35 this morning,” according to the White House.
PHOTO PATRICK SEMANSKY, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Vice President Kamala Harris
Or a historical interlude, one hour and 25 minutes, during which a woman was for the first time at the head of the first world power.
” Routine ”
A terse statement from the White House at 6 a.m. announced that the president would undergo a routine health check-up, the first since his inauguration.
A report of this medical visit will be published in the afternoon, promised the US executive.
The White House recalled that this transfer of power had already taken place “when President George W. Bush underwent the same intervention in 2002 and 2007”.
Former Donald Trump spokeswoman Stephanie Grisham implied in a recent book that the Republican billionaire also had a colonoscopy during his tenure but kept the procedure a secret.
Mr Biden, who does not smoke or drink, is fully vaccinated against COVID-19 and received his third dose in late September.
The oldest president in the history of the United States, he has made it known publicly that he intends to run for re-election in 2024.
His age, however, is fueling speculation that he might give up.
This medical examination was eagerly awaited by the American press.
Joe Biden has promised the greatest transparency about his state of health, while some supporters of Donald Trump do not lose any opportunity to question publicly, in a more or less roundabout way, about his physical health and his lucidity.
The Democrat had been declared “in good health” and “vigorous” by his doctor at the end of 2019, when he was a candidate for the primary of his party.
However, in 1988 he had experienced a serious health alert. Urgently rushed to hospital after a ruptured aneurysm, a priest had even been called to give him the last rites.
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.