Latest news with #andHisDisastrousChoice
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Biden on ‘Original Sin' authors: ‘I can beat the hell out of both of them'
Former President Biden blasted the authors of a new book detailing his mental decline during the 2024 race for president and his final few months in office. Biden was asked about chatter regarding his health stemming from a new book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again' by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson after speaking at an event in Delaware on Friday. 'You can see that I'm mentally incompetent, I can't walk — and I can beat the hell out of both of them,' Biden said with a smirk while speaking with reporters. The former president was asked if he wanted to respond to any of the reporting in the book, which revealed the extent to which top White House aides were kept in the dark about his condition, or to questions among Democrats whether he should have run for reelection. 'Why didn't they run against me then?' Biden replied. 'Because I'd have beaten them.' Biden announced earlier this month he had been diagnosed with prostate cancer, and Friday's remarks were his first since the announcement. The former president said his doctors are 'optimistic' about his prognosis. Tapper and Thompson's book has given fuel to attacks from President Trump and his allies alleging a 'cover-up' of Biden's condition by Democrats and media outlets. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Jill Biden should have to answer for 'cover up' of former president's decline, White House says
Former first lady Jill Biden should have to answer for her role in the "cover up" of her husband and former President Joe Biden's mental decline, according to White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt. Multiple books published in 2025 have detailed the deterioration of Biden's mental faculties while in the White House, including in the book "Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again" released May 20. "The former first lady should certainly speak up about what she saw in regard to her husband and when she saw it and what she knew, because I think anybody looking again at the videos and photo evidence of Joe Biden with your own eyes and a little bit of common sense can see this was a clear cover up," Leavitt said. "And Joe, by, Jill Biden was certainly complicit in that cover up." 'The Kamala Excuse': Tensions Between Biden And Harris Plagued Their Campaigns, New Book Reveals "There's documentation, video evidence of her clearly shielding her husband away from the cameras that were just on 'The View' last week," Leavitt told reporters Thursday. "She was saying, 'Everything is fine.' She's still lying to the American people. She still thinks the American public are so stupid that they're going to believe her lies. And frankly, it's insulting and she needs to answer for it." A spokesperson for Jill Biden did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. Read On The Fox News App "Original Sin," authored by journalists Jake Tapper of CNN and Alex Thompson of Axios, includes stories about how former President Joe Biden struggled to handle fairly routine aspects of a campaign. For example, the book says his team attempted to film a campaign video for ads on television in a high school gym, and have people ask questions akin to a town hall meeting. Biden Struggled To Film 2024 Campaign Videos Amid Declining Health, New Book Claims: 'The Man Could Not Speak' "The campaign was trying to make it look like the president was out there taking off-the-cuff questions from voters in public," the book said. "But the event was closed to reporters, and the campaign had the full list of questions that people would ask." Even so, former President Joe Biden encountered so much "trouble" answering questions that his team decided to cut the footage. Some blamed the poor lighting in the gym, but the book said that others said the real problem remained with the former president. New Book Reveals Biden's Inner Circle Worried About His Age Years Before Botched Debate Performance Meanwhile, Joe Biden's team has pushed back on the material in "Original Sin," which chronicles the 2024 election cycle and how his team allegedly plotted a cover-up to hide just how severely his mental faculties had declined. "There is nothing in this book that shows Joe Biden failed to do his job, as the authors have alleged, nor did they prove their allegation that there was a cover-up or conspiracy," a Biden spokesperson previously said in a statement to Fox News Digital. "Nowhere do they show that our national security was threatened or where the President wasn't otherwise engaged in the important matters of the Presidency. In fact, Joe Biden was an effective President who led our country with empathy and skill."Original article source: Jill Biden should have to answer for 'cover up' of former president's decline, White House says
New York Post
3 days ago
- Politics
- New York Post
Jake Tapper's CNN show hits lowest ratings since 2015 despite Biden book buzz
CNN host Jake Tapper had his lowest-rated month in nearly a decade in May despite a whirlwind publicity tour giving him an onslaught of attention. Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson's new book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' was released in May to much fanfare. The book helped set the recent news cycle with new accusations of the Biden White House hiding the truth about the former president's fitness for office. Advertisement To promote the project, Tapper has embarked on a wide-ranging book tour that landed him on a variety of podcasts, talk shows and cable news. The book has also been promoted relentlessly across CNN, but the spotlight on Tapper has seemingly failed to give him a boost in viewership. 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' averaged 525,000 total viewers from April 28 through May 25, shedding 25% of CNN's audience in its timeslot from the same period last year in the process. By comparison, Fox News offerings 'The Five' and 'Special Report with Bret Baier' averaged 3.3 million viewers from April 28 through May 25, trouncing Tapper. MSNBC also beat Tapper among total viewers, as programming on the progressive network averaged a little over one million viewers in the timeslot. As a result, Tapper settled for only 11% of the cable news audience share, while MSNBC managed 21% and Fox News commanded 68% during the timeframe. Advertisement Jake Tapper's book has also been promoted relentlessly across CNN, but the spotlight on Tapper has seemingly failed to give him a boost in viewership. CNN It was Tapper's lowest-rated month since August 2015. 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' is also down from last year among the advertiser-coveted demographic of adults aged 25-54. Tapper's newscast averaged only 95,000 viewers among the critical demo from April 28 through May 25, for a 15% drop. Advertisement 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' wasn't the only CNN offering to struggle, as the network had its second-worst month ever in the demo across both total day and primetime during May. 'The Lead with Jake Tapper' averaged 525,000 total viewers from April 28 through May 25, shedding 25% of CNN's audience in its timeslot from the same period last year in the process. CNN While Tapper's efforts to promote 'Original Sin' haven't helped viewership, the CNN host has managed to generate headlines by admitting he didn't report on Biden's age issues aggressively enough and declaring the cover-up of the former president's mental decline may be a worse scandal than Watergate. When reached for comment, CNN noted that Nielsen Media Research only reflects CNN's audience in the United States, but Tapper's program airs on other platforms. Advertisement 'The award-winning program The Lead with Jake Tapper reaches broad global audiences across CNN, CNN International and Max's streaming platform. No single metric can capture the true reach and impact of a program driving the national conversation,' a CNN spokesperson told Fox News Digital. Ratings information courtesy of Nielsen Media Research.
Yahoo
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Tapper: Biden's demise ‘may be even worse than Watergate in some ways'
CNN anchor and journalist Jake Tapper suggested the issues with mental acuity that led to former President Biden dropping out of last fall's presidential race were akin to the Watergate scandal of the 1970s. 'It is a scandal,' Tapper said while appearing on Piers Morgan's Fox program this week. 'It is without question, and may be even worse than Watergate in some ways, because Richard Nixon was in control of his faculties when he wasn't drinking,' Tapper added. The Watergate scandal led to Nixon's resignation under the threat of impeachment. It concerned the cover-up of a burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters. Tapper's new book, 'Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,' argues top aides to Biden were kept in the dark about the severity of Biden's mental decline, while others justified supporting his bid for reelection fearing a second term for President Trump. Biden ended up dropping out of the presidential race in July after a bad debate performance against Trump in June. Then-Vice President Kamala Harris became the Democratic nominee but lost to Trump in November. Democrats are still licking their wounds over the loss as a series of books have been released that go into the party's problems. Tapper has come under some criticism with regards to the book. Some critics say he should have reported more on Biden's condition last year. Tapper has expressed some regret for the way he and others in the media covered the race in its final months. Tapper and his co-author, Axios's Alex Thompson, have been on a media tour in recent weeks, defending the reporting in their book and beating back criticism of the book's timing. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Journal
5 days ago
- Politics
- The Journal
Joe Biden was begged by his son Hunter to ‘take a nap' during his busy trip to Ireland in 2023
HUNTER BIDEN PLEADED with his father Joe Biden to 'take a nap' during his packed Ireland trip two years go, a new book reports. A section in the new book by journalists Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson focuses on his four-day Irish trip in April 2023, which saw him traverse the country, taking in Dublin as well as ancestral spots in Mayo and Louth. The book – titled Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again – has direct testimony from Democratic congressman Mike Quigley who said that Biden seemed sapped of energy, leading to Hunter to plead for him to take a nap. 'You promised you wouldn't do this,' the book reports Hunter as telling his father. 'You promised you'd take a nap. You know you can't handle all this.' Biden announced his reelection campaign a few days after the Irish trip, only to carry out a stunning reversal after a disastrous debate performance against Donald Trump last June. Advertisement The new book recounts Quigley and New York congressman Brian Higgins discussing Biden's health following a ceremony at Áras an Uachtaráin as part of the Ireland trip. While they noted that Biden seemed to get an 'adrenaline boost' from performing to crowds – like his riverside address in Ballina, Co Mayo to tens of thousands – the two US politicians felt that their president's drained nature that day was similar to that of seriously unwell family members. Higgins is quoted as saying that Biden's cognitive decline was 'evident to most people that watched him', with his health also a worried topic of discussion among Democratic officials. Biden has strongly contested the claims that there had been a dramatic decline in his health in the latter half of his term in the White House. On a recent episode of US TV programme The View, he denied the allegations put forward in numerous reports on his health. 'They are wrong. There's nothing to sustain that,' Biden told the programme last month. Readers like you are keeping these stories free for everyone... A mix of advertising and supporting contributions helps keep paywalls away from valuable information like this article. Over 5,000 readers like you have already stepped up and support us with a monthly payment or a once-off donation. Learn More Support The Journal
