Ex-New York Times reporter accuses paper of stealing his story on Parkinson’s expert’s visits to the White House
Independent journalist Alex Berenson leveled a serious charge against his former employer the New York Times on Monday, accusing the paper of stealing his reporting on the bombshell revelations about a Parkinson’s disease expert visiting the White House.
On Saturday, the New York Post broke the story that Dr. Kevin Cannard, a neurologist from Walter Reed National Military Medical Center who specializes in Parkinson’s disease, had met in January with President Biden’s physician, Dr. Kevin O’Connor, according to White House visitor logs.
Later that day, Berenson wrote in his Unreported Truths newsletter that Cannard visited the White House “at least nine times since July 2023” — he later amended his reporting that there was a double count in the visitor logs so that there were only eight visits by Cannard.
The Times published its own report Monday, running the headline, “Parkinson’s Expert Visited the White House Eight Times in Eight Months.” However, the paper didn’t cite Berenson while citing The Post and the Guardian in its 11th paragraph.
“They stole the whole story. And tried to hide what they’d done by lying about their sourcing,” Berenson reacted on X. “I don’t care how much the Times hates me or wants to pretend I didn’t work there a decade, it’s inexcusable.”
In an interview with Fox News Digital, Berenson said he was “glad” that the “elite media” were putting a spotlight on the explosive revelation but that the lack of acknowledgment left a sour taste in his mouth.
“When I wrote this Saturday, I knew it was going to be a big deal. And honestly, it is,” Berenson told Fox News Digital. “I’m sort of sorry that I have to argue about this because what this should be about is a story.”
“It does make me angry that I wrote this two days ago and the place I worked for 10 years, they just hate me so much. They’re being dishonest,” Berenson said.
“I credit the New York Post … because that’s the correct thing to do. When somebody breaks the story, you give them credit. And, you know, it was a Post that spurred me to do this.”
Berenson called out the Times report for suggesting the paper itself broke the story, originally writing, “The logs, released by the White House in response to a request from The New York Times, document visits from July 2023 through March of this year.” That was later scrubbed from the report without explanation.
“That’s simply untrue. That is not how it works. They’re public, the logs. And the Times knows it,” Berenson said.
On his Substack, Berenson added, “But refusing to credit a clear scoop – as the Times did today – is an upscale form of plagiarism and a violation of journalism ethics.
The Times did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital’s request for comment. It is unclear if the Times reporters reviewed Berenson’s report ahead of their own publication.
The White House was bombarded with questions about Cannard’s visits to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre refused to confirm that Cannard had visited the White House and avoided saying whether Cannard had examined Biden.
In a letter released Monday night, O’Connor said Cannard was chosen for Biden’s annual physicals “not because he is a movement disorder specialist, but because he is a highly trained and highly regarded neurologist here at Walter Reed and across the Military Health System, with a very wide expertise which makes him flexible to see a variety of patients and problems.”
The president did not see a neurologist outside his annual physicals, the letter stated.
