President Joe Biden poked fun at reporters on Thursday for asking questions about a forthcoming physical exam of his health.
“Do you think I need it?” the 80-year-old president asked wryly.
The president spoke about his physical after meeting with firefighters during his lengthy Thanksgiving vacation on the island of Nantucket.
He revealed that he had already completed part of his physical exam and would get the rest of it done before the end of the year.
Last year, the president’s physician Dr. Kevin O’Connor explained Biden’s frequent coughing and his “perceptibly stiffer and less fluid walk” after conducting a full physical.
The president’s physical health will likely contribute to a discussion he plans to have with his family over the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays about running for reelection in 2024, despite doubts about his age.
Biden continues defying critics of his advanced age, telling them to “watch me” as he continues serving as president.
“I no more think of myself as being as old as I am than fly,” he said in an interview with 60 Minutes in September.
More than two-thirds of Americans in midterm exit polls said they did not want Biden to run for reelection.
