Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson Reveal New Book On Biden’s Decline — And The Media’s Role In Covering It Up

Tom DuranteFeb 26th, 2025, 12:28 pm
 

Jay Janner/AP Photos

CNN newsman Jake Tapper and Axios correspondent Alex Thompson are set to release a new book on Joe Biden’s mental decline as he sought another term in the White House and the news media’s role in hiding the president’s struggles.

Tapper and Thompson said they decided to write the book the day after Trump’s victory in the 2024 election, CNN reported Wednesday. Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Coverup, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again is now available for preorder and comes out May 20.

“Been working hard on this with @AlexThomp, from interviews with more than 200 WH insiders, Dem leaders, and more,”  Tapper posted to X Wednesday.

In its pages, the book will reveal the “full, unsettling truth,” according to a statement from publisher Penguin Random House. “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 — and part of a larger act of extended public deception that has few precedents.”

Criticism from some on the right was swift, with many resurfacing a 2020 CNN clip of a tense exchange between Tapper and Lara Trump in which the two tussled over Biden’s past issues with a stutter, something Trump claimed to know nothing about.

“I think what we see on stage with Joe Biden, Jake, is very clearly a cognitive decline,” Trump said as Tapper appeared to scoff.

“I think you were mocking his stutter,” Tapper fired back. “You have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline. I would think that someone in the Trump family would be more sensitive to people who do not have medical licenses diagnosing politicians from afar.”

However, when concerns about Biden’s age grew after he announced he would seek a second term in office, Tapper emerged as a leading voice pointing out those concerns, challenging Biden spokeswoman Karine Jean-Pierre, eventual VP candidate Tim Walz, and even Biden himself on CNN airwaves.

Thompson, who covered the 2024 campaign for Axios, also earned a reputation as a hard-hitting reporter who rarely shied away from reporting bad news for the Biden team.

Concerns about Biden’s age and mental faculties dogged him constantly while on the campaign trail, eventually coming to a head when dozens of high-profile Democrats — including actor George Clooney — publicly urged him to throw in the towel after a disastrous debate performance against Trump.

Biden ultimately withdrew from the race on July 21 — handing the reins to former Vice President Kamala Harris, who Trump pummeled on Election Day.

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