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CNN anchor Jake Tapper suggested Monday that part of the reason he is now reporting on President Donald Trump’s age is because he and other journalists may have overlooked former President Joe Biden’s age during the last administration.
On “Pod Save America,” host Tommy Vietor asked Tapper, who recently co-wrote a book on Biden’s mental decline and the administration’s cover-up, how he believes the media should cover the “growing instances of Trump falling asleep” or “missing a step.”
“When is it a critical mass that it becomes bookworthy, right?” Vietor asked.
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CNN’s Jake Tapper frequently questioned President Donald Trump’s age and health on his show. (Screenshot/CNN)
“I mean, we cover it all the time on my show,” Tapper said. “All the time. And I think that is to a large degree, because we saw what happened with Biden and while we covered it, we didn’t cover it…maybe we didn’t ask as many questions as we should have at the time. And I think it is a legitimate question for any president of any age, but particularly anybody who is in the range of being an octogenarian, right? We cover it all the time.”
Tapper pointed to his coverage on Wednesday where he criticized Trump’s Truth Social post that called out reports that he was “slowing up.”
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“We should note reporting accurately on the president’s quite obvious aging is neither seditious or treasonous,” Tapper said during the broadcast.
Jake Tapper co-authored the book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again” with Axios’ Alex Thompson. (Bryan Bedder/Variety via Getty Images)
On Thursday, Tapper also questioned the White House’s explanation for bruising seen on Trump’s hand after suggesting it was because the president is “literally constantly shaking hands.”
“The White House gave the same explanation for bruising back in July,” Tapper said. “Obviously, he’s 79 years old. And there is something going on with his health that they’re not telling us, because otherwise, why did he have that MRI?”
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Digital reached out to the White House for comment.
Jake Tapper admitted that he didn’t cover former President Joe Biden’s mental decline enough over the years. (Roberto Schmidt/AFP via Getty Images; Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images)
Ahead of promoting his book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” Tapper conceded that he didn’t cover Biden’s mental decline thoroughly enough while Biden was in office.
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“I think some of the criticism is fair, to be honest, of me,” Tapper said in May. “Certainly I’m not going to speak for anybody else, but knowing then what I know now, I look back at my coverage during the Biden years and I did cover some of these issues, but not enough. I look back on it with humility.”
