Politics
WATCH: Jake Tapper Squirms After Being Asked If His Book Tour Is All About The Money
Popular CNN anchor Jake Tapper made an appearance on “The Stephen A. Smith Show,” speaking with the legendary sports commentator about his new book. The tome is focused on the cover-up of former President Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.
During their conversation, Smith asked Tapper for his thoughts about recent claims made by leftists that writing the book was nothing more than a “money grab.” The question made the anchor visibly uncomfortable.
“In terms of the left, it’s ‘a money grab’ — I mean, that’s not the case. It’s not,” Tapper told Smith. “This is — I don’t — I don’t want to get into where my money comes from, but I — I’m, you know, CNN is my main job and that’s where my main source of income — by far.”
“Very few people write books to make money. You write a book because you want to say something. You want to have a legacy, you want to uncover something, you have a message you want to get out there,” he added. “I don’t think people write books about Joe Biden to make money. We are — we are gratified that people are buying this book — but, but, I don’t think — I mean, the idea that I would do this for money is — is — it’s just — it’s silly and not true.”
NEW: Jake Tapper visibly uncomfortable as he STAMMERS defending against claims his “Original Sin” book is a “money grab”
— Jason Cohen
(@JasonJournoDC) May 28, 2025
Tapper has also been getting slammed for his own failure to dig deep into Biden’s cognitive decline before it became undeniably evident to all during the June 2024 presidential debate.
NewsNation host and former CNN personality Chris Cuomo made the case on May 21 that Tapper’s book is, in and of itself, a cover-up. The real cover-up in the book, Cuomo says, is that the mainstream media wanted Biden to beat Trump and ignored the signs, while Tapper blames the former president’s inner circle for hiding his decline, thus making it difficult to cover the story.
“I do believe the book is a cover for something. It’s a cover for something that’s much more serious to me than Biden’s age and stage ever were: the reality that many in the media knew damn well that Biden was losing it, but they played it down because they wanted Trump to lose more,” Cuomo explained. “The original sin is not hiding Biden’s age and stage, but hiding this preference.”
Tapper has stated on multiple occasions that he didn’t cover up Biden’s cognitive decline, but failed to cover it adequately. He then said he spent a lot of time reflecting “with humility” on his reporting at the time while making the rounds to promote the book.
