Credibility Crisis: Biden's late-night allies go quiet after damning cognitive decline revelations

Fox News

3 days ago

The most outspoken late-night hosts have gone silent amid the recent revelations of Joe Biden's cognitive decline after years-long cozy relationships with the former president.
The reporting of "Original Sin" authors Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios has sparked a political firestorm and has critics taking aim at Biden's defenders in the Democratic Party as well as his allies in the media over the cover-up.
Despite all the headlines the book has generated, liberal comedians Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers have not mentioned any of the revelations, according to Grabien transcripts.
Colbert and Kimmel were such staunch supporters of Biden that they both emceed star-studded campaign fundraisers in 2024 before Biden was forced out of the presidential race following his disastrous debate performance.
Notably, Kimmel emceed the now-infamous Los Angeles fundraiser that was highlighted in "Original Sin," where Biden appeared not to have recognized celebrity fundraiser co-host George Clooney in an exchange backstage. Kimmel could also be seen in the viral video of Biden freezing on stage and being escorted away by former President Barack Obama.
At the time, Kimmel insisted there was no there there.
"There's a clip of Joe Biden going around today. They say he froze and had to be escorted offstage on Saturday night. I was standing right next to him when it happened. He didn't freeze. He was just listening to the people calling him in the front row," Kimmel told his audience before slamming "right-wing media" for "working very hard to claim Biden's out of it" last June.
The liberal hosts have all welcomed Biden for friendly interviews, the last time being on "Late Night with Seth Meyers" in February 2024, just days after the release of the Hur report. Meyers gently broached the subject of Biden's age before quickly moving on to other topics.
Special Counsel Robert Hur, who conducted the investigation into Biden's mishandling of classified documents, wrote in his report that he declined to bring charges against the former president in part because a jury would likely not find him guilty due to a perception that he was a "sympathetic, well-meaning elderly man with a poor memory."
Mentioned in his report was how Biden couldn't remember key dates, like when his son Beau died or when he was vice president. Earlier this month, the audio recordings of Hur's interview with Biden were released, leaving many critics to say Hur actually downplayed Biden's struggles in their Oct. 2023 sit-down.
When Hur first released his findings, the late-night hosts either dismissed or ignored the damning report.
Colbert mocked the "bombshell" revelation that Hur found that Biden was "old."
"Kinda going off road in a report about classified documents," Colbert reacted. "We fact-checked this last Thursday, and it turns out Joe Biden is old. I said double-check, and today, it turns out he's older."
"Here's the thing, Hur's extracurricular description of the president reinforces a concern many voters already have about his advanced age. But we are where we are. Unless something drastic happens it's Biden versus Trump. Voters are just going to have to choose between a 'sympathetic, well-meaning, elderly man with a poor memory' or a contemptible malicious elderly rapist with a poor memory," Colbert later told his audience.
Meyers called Hur's comments a "gratuitous hypothetical" and stressed that Hur was a "Republican attorney" who "was originally appointed by Trump."
"If that kind of language was appropriate in a legal finding, then prosecutors could have done the same thing to Trump," Meyers said before repeatedly drawing attention to Trump's mental acuity.
While addressing Hur's testimony to Congress, Meyers insisted that Hur's description of Biden was "contradicted by the transcript" and panned his admission that during his interview with Biden he told the president he had a "photographic understanding and recall" of his house.
"Wait, I'm sorry, Joe Biden has a photographic understanding and recall but you didn't put that in your report? Why?" Meyers reacted incredulously during an April 2024 monologue. "That's way more shocking than saying he has a poor memory. It doesn't surprise me at all that an 81-year-old has trouble remembering some names or dates."
Both Colbert and Meyers similarly shrugged off The Wall Street Journal report of Biden showing "signs of slipping" in June 2024, weeks before Biden's ill-fated debate. Colbert ridiculed the Journal and its findings, saying the paper thought "'Old man is old' is breaking news."
"The Wall Street Journal published an article yesterday that claims 'Biden appears to be slipping in private meetings.' He keeps saying crazy stuff that makes no sense like, 'A convicted felon is beating me in the polls,'" Meyers joked.
Kimmel, meanwhile, completely avoided the Hur report and The Wall Street Journal report, according to transcripts.
The ABC host did, however, roast conservatives for insisting Biden would be replaced on the Democratic ticket, saying it "almost makes no sense" within days of Biden's debate.