<div style="text-align: justify; "><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; "><b>US President Joe Biden remains "fit for duty" with no new health worries, his doctor said Wednesday after the 81-year-old's last medical ahead of an election in which his age is a key issue.</b></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The keenly awaited annual examination at the Walter Reed military medical center outside Washington came just weeks after a special counsel report that portrayed him as elderly and forgetful.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"He continues to be fit for duty and fully executes all of his responsibilities without any exemptions or accommodations," White House doctor Kevin O'Connor said in a summary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This year's physical identified no new concerns."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden, who faces a likely rematch with 77-year-old Donald Trump in November's election, himself joked that the only concern was that doctors "think I look too young."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Everything's great," he told reporters at the White House.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden took a short helicopter ride to the medical center that is often used by US presidents and left after two and a half hours, saluting naval staff and donning sunglasses before leaving in his motorcade.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The only new issue this year was Biden's use of a machine to reduce sleep disruption, along with an emergency dental procedure, O'Connor said after the examination.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'Robust' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden continues to suffer a range of minor issues including a stiff walk due to wear and tear in his spine and a minor heart valve issue but there was no significant change in them from last year, the report said.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Crucially, a "reassuring" and "extremely detailed" exam found no sign of neurological problems including Parkinson's or a stroke, it added.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"President Biden is a healthy, active, robust 81-year-old male, who remains fit to successfully execute the duties of the presidency," O'Connor concluded.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden's routine medical exam comes as voter concerns mount over the age of a leader who would be 86 at the end of a second term in office.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The issue was thrust further into the spotlight by the special counsel report.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It cleared him of illegally retaining classified documents in his home and garage -- but said he would come across to a jury as a "well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Biden launched a fiery counterattack in a press conference at the White House, saying his memory was "fine" and slamming the special counsel for claiming he could not remember when his son Beau died of cancer.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"I am well-meaning, and I'm an elderly man, and I know what the hell I'm doing... I put this country back on its feet," he said at the time.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">- 'The other guy' -</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">There has been a growing clamor for Biden to take a cognitive test, but the White House said his doctors had assessed that he did not need one.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"The president passes a cognitive test every day," Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre told reporters, citing the domestic and international political issues he dealt with.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"This is a very rigorous job."</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">This week Biden took a more lighthearted tone while trying to deflect the issue back onto his septuagenarian nemesis Trump.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In an interview with late-night TV comic Seth Meyers on Monday, Biden said he was a better bet than "the other guy," who is only four years younger.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In last year's medical exam Biden got a clean bill of health, although he did have a cancerous skin lesion removed from his chest.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Trump routinely depicts Biden as old, decrepit and unfit for office -- despite being nearly the same age and raising eyebrows with a series of verbal gaffes and memory issues of his own.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The real estate tycoon recently confused his rival Republican Nikki Haley with Democratic former House speaker Nancy Pelosi, and said Viktor Orban was president of Turkey, rather than Hungary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Haley, 52, has depicted both men as too old for the presidency.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Late last year, Trump released a note from his doctor declaring him to be in "excellent" health, but it was short on details and did not say what tests Trump had undergone when he had a physical in September 2023. AFP</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br></div><div style="text-align: justify; ">bnbd24/kh</div>