Kamala Harris became first woman with presidential power while Biden was under anesthesia for routine colonoscopy

The nation’s 1st female, very first Black and 1st South Asian vice president broke however one more barrier when she temporarily stepped into the acting role. Harris worked from her place of work in the West Wing though Biden was underneath anesthesia, according to Psaki.

“@POTUS spoke with @VP and @WHCOS at close to 11:35am this early morning. @POTUS was in superior spirits and at that time resumed his duties. He will remain at Walter Reed as he completes the relaxation of his regimen bodily,” Psaki tweeted.

Biden, who turns 79 on Saturday, arrived Friday early morning at Walter Reed Medical Center to go through his initially program yearly actual physical considering the fact that using business.

To officially transfer the presidential powers to Harris, Biden sent a letter to Dwelling Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Democratic Sen. Patrick Leahy of Vermont, the president pro tempore of the Senate, at 10:10 a.m. ET in advance of likely below anesthesia.

The letter reads: “Now I will undergo a plan professional medical procedure necessitating sedation. In look at of existing circumstances, I have determined to transfer quickly the powers and obligations of the business office of President of the United States to the Vice President throughout the short interval of the treatment and restoration.”

Part 3 of the 25th Modification to the US Constitution suggests the President can send a letter to the speaker of the Home of Reps and the president professional tempore of the Senate declaring declaring they are “not able to discharge the powers and obligations of his business office, and until eventually he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.”

In order to transfer the powers back to Biden, a individual letter was sent just after the procedure.

“In accordance with the provisions of part 3 of the 20-Fifth Modification to the United States Structure, I hereby transmit to you my published declaration that I am equipped to discharge the powers and duties of the Business office of the President of the United States and that I am resuming those powers and duties,” the letter, which was sent to both of those Pelosi and Leahy, reads.

Before this year, former President Donald Trump’s ex-push secretary Stephanie Grisham greatly implied that Biden’s predecessor underwent a colonoscopy in a top secret take a look at to Walter Reed in 2019, but saved it tranquil to steer clear of transferring presidential electricity to then-Vice President Mike Pence.

In her reserve, “I am going to Just take Your Inquiries Now,” Grisham does not use the expression colonoscopy but intensely implies which is what the vacation was for. She claims Trump’s hospital pay a visit to, which stirred months-lengthy speculation about his health and fitness was a “very frequent course of action,” all through which “a affected individual is put below.” She also writes that Bush had a equivalent procedure even though in place of work. Grisham writes Trump did not want then-Vice President Mike Pence to be in electricity whilst he was sedated, which was section of the cause he retained his go to personal. He also “did not want to be the butt of a joke” on late-evening television, writes Grisham.

Biden is the oldest first-phrase president in US background, and the last thorough update on Biden’s clinical record arrived nearly two yrs in the past when his presidential marketing campaign launched a 3-website page summary of his healthcare record in December 2019.

Dr. Kevin O’Connor, Biden’s principal treatment medical doctor since 2009, explained Biden as “a healthier, vigorous, 77-12 months-outdated male,” at the time.

The 2019 summary showed Biden was currently being taken care of for non-valvular atrial fibrillation, or AFib — an irregular heartbeat that O’Connor reported Biden ordeals no signs and symptoms of. He was having Crestor to decreased cholesterol and triglyceride amounts, as perfectly as Eliquis to prevent blood clots, Nexium for acid reflux, and Allegra and a nasal spray for seasonal allergies.

The most important healthcare celebration in Biden’s heritage, O’Connor wrote, was when Biden experienced a mind aneurysm in 1988. He was serving in the Senate at the time. In the course of surgery, medical professionals found a next aneurysm that had not bled, which they also taken care of.

When in the medical center just after that surgical procedures, Biden endured deep vein thrombosis and a pulmonary embolism. Medical practitioners at the time inserted an “inferior vena cava filter,” which would reduce long term blood clots from reaching the heart and lungs and addressed him with an oral anti-coagulant for several months.

This tale has been up-to-date with supplemental details.

CNN’s Kate Bennett and Betsy Klein contributed to this report.