CNN host Jake Tapper's book, Original Sin, co-authored by Alex Thompson, describes a president who struggled to function: "One person told us that the presidency was, at best, a five-person board with Joe Biden as chairman." Tapper spoke with Terry Gross about moderating the disastrous Biden/Trump debate, George Clooney's op-ed calling for the president to drop out, and the White House's "cover-up" about Biden's decline.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
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This is Fresh Air. I'm Terry Gross. Joe Biden got a lot of devastating news over the past few days. On Sunday, it was announced that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer that has metastasized to the bone.
The audio was released of his interview with Robert Herr, the special counsel investigating the classified documents found in Biden's home, garage and office after leaving the White House. The transcript had previously been made public, but on the audio, you can hear how difficult it was for Biden to continue a train of thought, complete a sentence or remember basic facts.
The House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into a cover up of Biden's cognitive decline. There's also been a lot of advanced coverage of my guest Jake Tapper's new book, which was published today. It investigates how Biden's inner circle of advisors and his wife, Jill, tried to keep his physical and cognitive decline as hidden as possible.
It's titled Original Sin, President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again. Tapper is CNN's chief Washington correspondent and anchors two shows. On weekdays, it's the late afternoon show called The Lead. On Sundays, it's State of the Union, which is also anchored by Dana Bash.
The book's co-author, Alex Thompson, is a national political correspondent for Axios and a CNN contributor. Thompson broke several stories regarding Biden's health. Tapper has interviewed Biden many times, dating back to when he was a senator. Along with Dana Bash, he moderated the 2024 debate between Biden and Trump, which was disastrous for Biden. We recorded our interview yesterday morning.
Jake Tapper, welcome back to Fresh Air.
Thank you so much. Great to be here.
I'm really sorry, as I'm sure are you, to hear the news about Biden's prostate cancer. Does it make it awkward for you to criticize him now at this moment?
The story that we wrote, Alex Thompson and I, about President Biden's decision to run for re-election despite serious questions about whether he was up to doing the job, and then as he deteriorated a bit physically and mentally, the attempts to hide that as much as possible from the public, and even from people in the White House and cabinet officials and the like, is a tragedy.
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