We speak to CNN's Jake Tapper on the “cover-up” behind Joe Biden’s decline
Americast
BBC
4.2 • 2.8K Ratings
🗓️ 18 May 2025
⏱️ 24 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The fallout from Joe Biden’s failed presidential campaign continues with a new book that accuses senior White House figures of covering up the former president’s “physical deterioration”.
The author, Jake Tapper - who co-authors the book with Alex Thompson of Axios - claims Biden did not recognise George Clooney at a fundraiser last June hosted by the Hollywood star and that at one stage of the campaign, aides discussed putting him in a wheelchair.
A spokesperson for Joe Biden said "evidence of aging is not evidence of mental incapacity" and maintained the Democrat had been "a very effective president".
Why does Jake Tapper believe that there was a cover-up of the president’s condition, and does the American media need to take some responsibility for how they reported Biden’s campaign?
HOST:
- Justin Webb, Radio 4 presenter
GUEST:
- Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and chief Washington correspondent, co-author of Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again
GET IN TOUCH:
- Join our online community: https://discord.gg/qSrxqNcmRB - Send us a message or voice note via WhatsApp to +44 330 123 9480 - Email [email protected] - Or use #Americast
This episode was made by George Dabby, Purvee Pattni, Alix Pickles and Grace Reeve. The technical producer was Philip Bull. The series producer is Purvee Pattni. The senior news editor is Sam Bonham.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | BBC Sounds, Music, Radio, Podcasts. |
| 0:04.8 | We are well into the post-mortem now of Joe Biden's 2024 presidential campaign. |
| 0:09.5 | That campaign, of course, that came apart last summer and led to Kamala Harris being the candidate, rather late in the day. |
| 0:15.9 | A lot of books now, either been published or about to be published, all of them bringing different insights, |
| 0:22.2 | angles into what was happening behind the scenes. |
| 0:25.0 | In this episode, we're going to hear from another of those authors, the journalist and CNN anchor |
| 0:29.9 | Jake Tapper, he's a very big name in American journalism. |
| 0:33.2 | He moderated the first 2024 presidential debate, in other words, the one between Trump and Biden, |
| 0:40.4 | where Biden fell apart. So his new book, which he co-authors, argues that there was a cover-up |
| 0:47.0 | of Joe Biden's decline, not just during the campaign, but during his entire presidency. So, |
| 0:56.9 | we're going to ask why he says that, |
| 1:02.3 | but also whether the American media have their own questions to answer about whether they covered things up as well. Welcome to AmeriCast. AmericaastCast from BBC News. |
| 1:11.5 | You're gambling with lives of millions of people. |
| 1:14.2 | You're gambling with World War III. |
| 1:16.5 | President Trump's message is very simple. |
| 1:18.5 | We are done being taken advantage of. |
| 1:20.3 | Mr. President, in the name of our God, have mercy upon the people. |
| 1:24.6 | And we're scared now. |
| 1:25.8 | Are you supportive of these onesies? |
| 1:27.9 | I'm supportive of vaccines. |
| 1:29.4 | What is happening? |
| 1:30.6 | Like this is not America. |
... |
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