One of Biden's 'closest friends' wants him to take a 'full neurological exam' and release the results, biographer claims

Biden biographer Chris Whipple said Tuesday night that one of the president's 'closest friends' thinks he should get a 'full neurological exam' as questions continue to pile up about the 81-year-old's cognitive state.  

Whipple sat down with CNN's Abby Phillip as Biden continued to fight for his political survival after last month's disastrous presidential debate performance. 

So far, Biden has refused to sit down for a fresh cognitive exam, telling ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Friday, 'I've already done it,' pointing to the physical he received from the White House physician earlier this year. 

'I will tell you that one of the president's closest friends thinks that Joe Biden should go up to Walter Reed, have a complete neurological exam, release the results, and let the chips fall,' Whipple said Tuesday. 

The author, who penned the 2023 biography The Fight of His Life: Inside Joe Biden's White House, was unsure if the message had been delivered. 

Biden biographer Chris Whipple said Tuesday night that one of the president's 'closest friends' thinks he should get a 'full neurological exam' as questions continue to pile up about the 81-year-old's cognitive state

Biden has refused to sit down for a fresh cognitive exam, telling ABC News' George Stephanopoulos on Friday, 'I've already done it,' pointing to the physical he received from the White House physician earlier this year. He attended the NATO summit Wednesday 

'Now, I don't think that friend has said this out loud to Joe Biden because that's a hard thing even for a close friend to tell him, but I don't think he's going there without a major push,' Whipple told Phillip. 

Biden and the White House have resisted greater transparency concerning the president's health on the heels of the debate and several 'freezing' moments, which press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre called 'cheap fakes' and suggested the president was a victim of deceptive editing. 

Jean-Pierre botched the explanation of whether or not the president saw his doctor in the days before and after the debate. 

Biden said while it wasn't an 'excuse,' he was suffering from a cold onstage in Atlanta. 

And then Jean-Pierre changed her story after telling reporters that a meeting between the president's personal physician and a neurologist who specializes in Parkinson's disease was not related to Biden's personal care. 

The January 17 White House meeting was part of the president's annual physical examination, she later explained. 

Whipple said that none of his sources thought Biden was ailing, moreso that he was showing his advanced age. 

President Joe Biden's political future is on the line and the White House has had to clean up health information given to reporters, including whether he was treated for the cold he was suffering during the debate and why a Parkinson's specialist was meeting with his doctor

The biographer told Phillip, 'by all accounts, the people I spoke to, including his closest friends, his inner circle, they all said that Biden was fine cognitively.' 

'He obviously walked like a zombie because he has arthritis and all the rest of it, but no, I didn't get any indication that he was cognitively impaired, and everybody insisted otherwise,' Whipple told the TV host. 

The author also revealed that the president refused to speak to him by phone for their interviews as he was writing his book, instead requesting written questions which he then answered. 

This has been a hallmark approach of the Biden White House as the president's inner circle has limited off-the-cuff interactions between the president, press and the public. 

Whipple described it as the most 'scripted White House in modern history.'