Hunter Biden once said he would ‘knock out’ CNN star Jake Tapper over the network’s coverage of his scandals.
The stand-off was reveals in ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,’ by Tapper and CNN contributor Alex Thompson.
The book provides an in-depth look at the former president’s ‘serious decline’ and cover-up.
Tapper, 55, notably moderated the June 2024 debate that sparked Biden’s decision to bow out.
Now, a new report suggests that the bad blood between the Biden gang and Tapper has run for a long time, escalating in a bizarre incident at Super Bowl LII in 2018 in Minneapolis.
Tapper and the former president’s long-troubled son Hunter were attending a celebrity-laden pre-game party that included politicos, athletes and the stars of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.
Puck reports that Tapper went to meet Hunter after shaking hands with former Congressman Kevin McCarthy and the response was downright chilly.
Hunter allegedly put an arm around the CNN star and told Tapper that if they were not in a public setting, ‘I would knock you out.’
There are competing theories as to what angered Biden, who has long battled drug addiction and was convicted on federal firearms-related felony charges before his father gave him a last-minute pardon.
Hunter Biden once said he would ‘knock out’ CNN star Jake Tapper, as the CNN star’s book continues the distrust of the former president’s family toward the anchor
Tapper, 55, notably moderated the June 2024 debate that sparked Biden’s decision to bow out
Some suggest that Biden was unhappy about reports of allegations regarding his drug use and his 2017 divorce, which Tapper denied to Hunter.
Others say it was Tapper who called Hunter to inform him from an unknown number that his brother Beau had died.
The people who claim it was the latter say that Hunter told Tapper to ‘f*** off.’
When asked to comment, Tapper denied either charge but did confirm that the Biden progeny took him to task.
‘At no point in my life have I ever called Hunter Biden—I’ve never even had his phone number—and I would never have contacted a person’s immediate family during such a challenging and personal time,’ he said.
‘Hunter did once confront me at a Super Bowl party, but it was over an unrelated issue – coverage he wrongly believed I had done regarding divorce allegations of drug use and using prostitutes, which I actually had never done.’
Tapper initially faced ridicule for penning a book about the ‘cover-up’ surrounding Joe Biden’s health despite claims he and his network did the same.
Commenters under CNN’s own story claimed the station had been ‘complicit in the fraud’, as other singled out Tapper specifically.
Tapper went to meet Hunter (pictured) after shaking hands with former Congressman Kevin McCarthy and the response was downright chilly. Hunter allegedly put an arm around the CNN star and told Tapper that if they were not in a public setting, ‘I would knock you out.’
Some suggest that Biden was unhappy about reports of allegations regarding his drug use and his 2017 divorce, which Tapper denied to Hunter. Others say it was Tapper who called Hunter to inform him from an unknown number that his brother Beau had died
Others derisively mocked the State of the Union host, framing his book as a shameless attempt at deflection.
One reader typed how Tapper ‘needs to go’, weeks after a senior CNN staffer told DailyMail.com the network had laid off 200 of its staff because it had become inundated with workers who do the bare minimum.
All honed in on the mainstream media Tapper and Thompson said they had successfully unmasked, while seemingly ignoring the pair’s part in the reporting.
A synopsis for the book provided in a press release, meanwhile, described the liberal-led plot. It frames Biden, ‘his family, and his senior aides’ as ‘so convinced that only he could beat Trump again, they lied to themselves, allies, and the public.’
‘What you will learn makes President Biden’s decision to run for reelection seem shockingly narcissistic, self-delusional, and reckless – a desperate bet that went bust,’ Penguin stated while announcing the book.’
The publisher further framed the attempt – fueled by coverage that likely aired on legacy stations like ABC, NBC, and CBS – as ‘part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents.’
Tapper – who also moderated a 2020 debate between the then-candidates – added in a separate statement, in which he quoted Nobel Prize winning novelist Toni Morrison.
‘”If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.”‘
The cover of ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,’ is seen here. It argues that Biden, ‘his family, and his senior aides’ as ‘so convinced that only he could beat Trump again, they lied to themselves, allies, and the public’
Following the book’s announcement, claimed the station had been ‘complicit in the fraud’, as other singled out Tapper specifically. Others derisively mocked the State of the Union host, framing his book as a shameless attempt at deflection
‘That’s what inspired this book,’ the Lead With Jake Tapper host said. ‘We wanted to know more about what we all just lived through.
‘More than 200 interviews later, Alex and I have a much better idea,’ he said, talking up the book’s sourcing.
‘And soon you all will too.’
The statement was delivered a little more than six months removed from the Atlanta debate that Tapper moderated, which led to accusations that CNN’s lead Washington anchor took it easy on the president.
One segment in particular sparked such accusations, after Tapper appeared to cut the 81-year-old off in the midst of a rambling, nonsensical answer – one of several later cited after the Democrats’ abrupt turnaround to opting for Kamala Harris.
‘We’d be able to wipe out his debt,’ Biden said at the time of sums incurred by Trump-era tax cuts he said ‘benefited the very wealthy.’
‘We’d be able to help make sure all those things we need to do: child care, elder care, making sure that we continue to strengthen our health care system,’ he continued, stumbling at times over his words.
‘Making sure that we’re able to make every single solitary person eligible for what I’ve been able to do with the… with the COVID, excuse me, with um, dealing with everything we have to with, uh,’ he went on, languishing at this point.
‘Look, if we finally beat Medicare…’
He proceeded to fully trail off.
The silence that ensued – and the overall moment – went on to live in infamy, after Tapper’s timely interjection.
‘Thank you President Biden – President Trump?’
Within days – thanks an array of other viral flubs during the make-or-break faceoff – Biden was bombarded with bipartisan calls to drop out.
He eventually did, albeit reluctantly, after several weeks.
That said, Tapper was one of few left-leaning hosts to call attention to Biden’s seemingly waning health in the months leading up the debate, while talents like Thompson gave time to accounts from White House staffers insisting the president was fine.
Tapper, moreover, cut off Lara Trump during a tense interview that aired on State of the Union in 2020, during an conversation about the candidate’s ‘cognitive decline.’
The host – who was reportedly just denied a raise – had just aired a clip of Trump’s daughter-in-law criticizing Biden’s tendency to stutter, calling it evidence of his ‘cognitive decline’.
‘I’m like “Joe, can ya get it out, let’s get the words out, Joe,” You kinda feel bad for him,’ she said – leading Tapper to chide her and point out previous reporting surrounding Biden overcoming a stutter over the years.
‘How do you think it makes little kids with stutters feel when they see you make a comment like that?’ he asked Trump sternly. ‘I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline’.
