Award-winning author, journalist accuses The New York Times of ‘stealing’ Biden Parkinson’s story

An investigative journalist who worked for The New York Times for a decade has accused the newspaper of stealing his story about how a Parkinson’s disease doctor has been visiting the White House – and likely the president.

Alex Berenson, who left The Times in 2010 to become a full-time novelist, said the newspaper later edited the story to cover up its theft.

The original story, as published by Berenson, details eight visits to the White House by a “Parkinson’s disease specialist” since July 2023.

It originally appeared on Berenson’s Substack, where he publishes investigative articles, with a publication date of July 6. He credited the The New York Post for first reporting on just one of those doctor visits.

Two days later, The Times published a similar story to Berenson’s, but claimed the records were obtained by the newspaper from the White House via a document request. (The records are available by a simple web search on the White House’s website).

Later, the newspaper “stealth” edited the piece, according to Berenson, omitting the reference about requesting records, but only after Berenson had publicly called out each of the reporters for stealing the story and not using proper attribution.

“Actually… they stole the whole story. And tried to hide what they’d done by lying about their sourcing…. I don’t care how much the Times hates me or wants to pretend I didn’t work there [for] a decade, it’s inexcusable,” Berenson posted on X.

Berenson’s story included screenshots of the White House visitors log showing that Dr. Kevin R. Cannard, a Parkinson’s disease specialist, made 10 visits to the president’s residence in the last year. At least some of those turned out to be duplicate entries. 

“The logs show Dr. Cannard traveled to the White House residence medical clinic each time,” said Berenson. “He met either with the president’s personal physician or the naval nurse who coordinates care for the president and other top officials, the logs show.” 

Berenson is no stranger to controversy over his reporting.

He was suspended from Twitter during the pandemic for reporting that the COVID-19 vaccine was ineffective, a claim Twitter called “repeated violations of our COVID-19 misinformation rules.”  

Twitter later reinstated his account when they settled a lawsuit Berenson filed against the social media giant. 

Berenson still has a lawsuit outstanding against the Biden administration over the account suspension.   

In reaction to the stories about Cannard’s visits to the White House, the president’s doctor, Kevin O’Connor, denied that Biden has Parkinson’s or that Cannard visited Biden “outside of [Biden’s] annual physical,” which was completed in February.   

Berenson called the O’Connor statement a “total non-answer.” 

“It does NOT say why [Cannard] suddenly began coming to @whitehouse in July, after one visit in the first 2.5 years of Biden’s term; or say he didn’t consult on Biden’s care; or update the Feb. 28 medical report,” said Berenson.  

Berenson has published 12 novels, with his debut title earning him an Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best First Novel in 2007.

The Lion reached out to Berenson and The New York Times for comment, but did not receive replies prior to publication.