Biden visits ‘good friend’ Bob Dole following cancer diagnosis

President Biden visited former Sen. Bob Dole (R-Kan.) on Saturday after Dole was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer this week.

The trip to visit Dole, who the White House called a “close friend” of the president, was unannounced and did not appear on Biden’s public schedule. It was reported by the White House pool only after Biden had already arrived to meet with the former Kansas senator and presidential candidate. 

The 97-year-old Kansan said in a statement this week he was diagnosed “recently” and will start treatment on Monday.

“While I certainly have some hurdles ahead, I also know that I join millions of Americans who face significant health challenges of their own,” Dole said.

Biden and Dole served in the Senate together from 1973 to 1996.

When asked by a pool reporter later in the evening following Biden’s visit to Holy Trinity Church in Washington, D.C., how the former senator was doing, Biden responded, “He’s doing well.” 

Dole served in the Senate for about 27 years and was Senate majority leader from 1985 to 1987 and from 1995 to the end of his time in the upper chamber. He was also the Republican vice presidential nominee in 1976 and the GOP presidential nominee in 1996. He lost both races.

Prior to serving in public office, Dole fought in World War II. He was gravely injured in 1945 when he was shot in his upper back and right arm, leaving him with limited mobility in his right arm and numbness in his left arm.

Updated 6:20 p.m.