New Delhi, May 20 -- US President Donald Trump fueled speculation that Joe Biden's cancer diagnosis was covered up, saying he was "surprised" the public was not told about his predecessor's condition earlier.

"I'm surprised the public wasn't notified a long time ago," Trump told reporters in the Oval Office in his first on-camera statement about his predecessor's diagnosis.

"It takes a long time to get to that situation, to get to a stage nine," he added, apparently referring to the announcement by Biden's office that his cancer had "a Gleason score of 9 (Grade Group 5)."

Prostate cancer that looks "very abnormal" is assigned the highest rating, Grade 5, according to the American Cancer Society. The Gleason Score goes up to 10, indicat...