Inside The "Cover-Up" Of President Biden's Decline

Fresh Air

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🗓️ 20 May 2025

⏱️ 49 minutes

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Summary

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.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	This message comes from Scholastic with the new novel El Nino, an entrancing adventure from
0:05.8	beloved and award-winning author of Esperanza Rising, Pam Munoz Ryan. Jason Reynolds calls it a
0:11.8	brilliant amalgamation of myth, nature, sport, and loss. I've never read anything like it. El Nino
0:18.3	is available wherever books are sold.
0:27.4	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
0:32.7	metastasized to the bone. The audio was released of his interview with Robert Hur, the special counsel
0:38.7	investigating the classified documents found in Biden's home, garage, and office after leaving
0:44.2	the White House. The transcript had previously been made public, but on the audio, you can hear
0:49.8	how difficult it was for Biden to continue a train of thought, complete a sentence, or remember basic
0:55.0	facts. The House Oversight Committee opened an investigation into a cover-up of Biden's
1:01.5	cognitive decline. There's also been a lot of advance coverage of my guest Jake Tapper's new book,
1:07.3	which was published today. It investigates how Biden's inner circle of advisors and his
1:12.8	wife Jill tried to keep his physical and cognitive decline as hidden as possible. It's titled
1:19.1	Original Sin, President Biden's decline, its cover-up, and his disastrous choice to run again.
1:26.0	Tapper is CNN's chief Washington correspondent and anchors two shows.
1:30.2	On weekdays, it's the late afternoon show called The Lead. On Sundays, it's State of the Union,
1:35.5	which is also anchored by Dana Bash. The book's co-author, Alex Thompson, is a national
1:40.6	political correspondent for Axios and a CNN contributor. Thompson broke several
1:45.9	stories regarding Biden's health. Tapper has interviewed Biden many times, dating back to when he was a
1:51.7	senator. Along with Dana Bash, he moderated the 2024 debate between Biden and Trump, which was disastrous
1:58.7	for Biden. We recorded our interview yesterday morning.
2:03.4	Jake Tapper, welcome back to fresh air. Thank you so much. Great to be here.
	...

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