CNN anchor Jake Tapper tore into former president Joe Biden’s son, Hunter, for acting like “chief of staff of the family” in recent years, despite his record of questionable behavior.
“It’s bizarre because I think he is provably, demonstrably unethical, sleazy and prone to horrible decisions,” Tapper told Katie Couric in an interview that aired on Tuesday, as Tapper and his co-author, Axios reporter Alex Thompson, promoted their book, Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, which paints a highly critical picture of Biden’s final days in office and 2024 campaign.
“Look at the record,” Tapper continued. “After his brother died, he cheated on his wife with his brother’s widow and then got her addicted to crack. That’s just one thing I could say. I don’t have a lot of personal regard for him.”
The Independent was not immediately able to reach Hunter Biden for comment.
The book contains a number of damning allegations about Biden and his inner circle, including that he forgot the names of aides and political ally George Clooney alike. It also alleges that the president began to rely on cue cards and teleprompters even for rudimentary remarks, while limiting his access to members of Congress and his cabinet.
One source reportedly told Tapper that as the president’s health declined, the presidency was “at best, a five-person board with Joe Biden as chairman of the board."
Other reporting has suggested that despite Hunter Biden’s many scandals, the president viewed him as his closest political adviser.
The Biden camp has largely dismissed the book’s reporting.
President Biden’s spokesperson Chris Meagher has said he is “still waiting for someone, anyone, to point out where Joe Biden had to make a presidential decision or make a presidential address where he was unable to do his job because of mental decline...In fact, the evidence points to the opposite — he was a very effective president.”
Naomi Biden, Hunter Biden’s daughter, compared the book, which comes out today (May 20), to “political fairy smut for the permanent, professional chattering class.”
“Put simply, it amounts to a bunch of unoriginal, uninspired lies written by irresponsible self promoting journalists out to make a quick buck,” she wrote on X. “It relies on unnamed, anonymous sources pushing a self-serving false narrative that absolves them of any responsibility for our current national nightmare.”
The release of the book comes at a troubled time for the former president, who announced over the weekend he had been diagnosed with an “aggressive” form of prostate cancer.
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