The recent controversy surrounding President Joe Biden's cognitive health has been marked by allegations of misdirection and outright dishonesty on the part of the White House, and a recent development in the saga has done little to engender confidence among the press or the electorate.

As the New York Post reports, Biden press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre was forced to admit this week that the president did consult with Parkinson's specialist Dr. Kevin Cannard on Jan. 17 of this year, making the correction just one day after she informed journalists otherwise.

Origin of controversy

It was during the routine White House press briefing on Monday that the frustrating back-and-forth began, with CBS News correspondent Ed O'Keefe querying Jean-Pierre about a recent report revealing multiple occasions on which the doctor, known for his expertise in Parkinson's Disease, appeared at the White House, and whether those appointments pertained to Biden.

It quickly became clear that Jean-Pierre did not wish to confirm the fact of -- or potential reasons for -- Cannard's White House visits, repeatedly suggesting that security and privacy restrictions prevented her from doing so, as Fox News reported.

It was when the press secretary sidestepped a question from Zeke Miller of the Associated Press about whether Cannard had been summoned to examine Biden that O'Keefe called Jean-Pierre out on what he viewed as unnecessary obfuscation.

“It's a very basic, direct question. That's what you should be able to answer by this point,” O'Keefe declared, much to the press secretary's irritation.

Amid extended, often testy exchanges about the administration's apparent unwillingness to specifically address questions about Cannard's involvement in Biden's care, O'Keefe pointed out a recent instance in which Jean-Pierre had to backtrack and correct a prior assertion about Biden having seen a doctor after his debate with Donald Trump.

Another clean-up required

Then on Tuesday, Jean-Pierre admitted that Cannard was indeed present on Jan. 17 for the purpose of participating in Biden's physical examination process.

The press secretary's revelation came after Seung Min Kim of the Associated Press asked her directly, “Can you say whether that one meeting [between Dr. Cannard and Dr. O'Connor] was related to care for the president himself?” to which Jean-Pierre replied, “I can say that it was not.”

KJP then admitted, “Because the date was not mentioned in the question, I want to be clear that the Jan. 17 meeting between [presidential physician] Dr. [Kevin] O'Connor and Dr. Cannard was for the president's physical.

Jean-Pierre went on, “It was one of the three times the president has seen Dr. Cannard, each time for his physical. The findings from each exam have been released to the public.”

Suspicions of massive cover-up grow

The growing exasperation among journalists about the perceived lack of transparency and forthrightness was summed up by O'Keefe when he told the press secretary, “Well, we're a little miffed around here about how information has been shared with the press corps about [Biden].”

This episode only served to lend credence among many regarding, as the Post described it, Jean-Pierre's perceived status as “ill-prepared and incurious about the details of major stories before briefing the press” and also to fuel rumors that a massive cover-up of Biden's true condition has been afoot for some time.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) has also offered his take on the breadth of the deception in which administration officials, Democrat lawmakers, and Biden family members have been engaged, saying, according to The Hill, that the president's cognitive health has been subject to “the biggest political cover-up that we have ever seen, maybe in U.S. history, and it's the most consequential, as well.”