Viral Video Attacking Jake Tapper’s Biden Record Relies on Misleading Edits

As Jake Tapper embarks on the promo tour for Original Sin, the upcoming book he co-authored with Alex Thompson examining former President Joe Biden’s disastrous decision to run for re-election in 2024, he’s faced intense scrutiny from the pro-Trump right for his own coverage of the ex-president’s cognitive decline while in office.

The book has already made waves for its explosive scoops, which include Biden not recognizing George Clooney at a Democratic fundraiser, or private deliberations among White House aides that Biden might have needed to use a wheelchair.

The reaction on the right has been vicious. Fox News opinion hosts have accused Tapper of ignoring the story initially and now trying to cash in on a story they have been covering for years. That argument is belied by the fact that Tapper did in fact cover Biden’s decline — though he has admitted he did not do so aggressively enough — as well as the reality that Fox coverage had little in the way of reporting and mostly involved airing embarrassing clips of Biden falling or mumbling or insulting the former president with sophomoric jabs like “sippy cup.”

The primary evidence of Tapper’s supposed complicity with the cover-up of Biden’s decline is a supercut of clips posted to social media by Tom Elliott, a pro-Trump influencer who has built a large audience posting political clips online.

He’s not a household name, but his influence is far-reaching. Many clips used in conservative media to criticize Democrats can first be found on Elliott’s social media feed.

Elliott’s “supercut” taking aim at Tapper was first published online in February. “Before profiting off the media conspiracy to hide Biden’s decline, @jaketapper helped run it,” he wrote in a caption shortly after news broke that Tapper and Thompson would be releasing their book.

The video includes several examples of Tapper seeming to defend Biden. Some of his comments are quite damning. Yet upon further investigation, Mediaite found that it contains several misleading edits that cast Tapper’s remarks as far more deferential to Biden than they actually were.

The misleading edits were so egregious that CNN’s communications team responded to the video with a fact check:

This video is disingenuously edited to create a misleading narrative. The clips are maliciously cut to omit context and make comments made by others appear as though they are Jake’s own. Here is an example of just one of the deceptive edits. Jake fairly and accurately covered Senator, VP, and President Biden through years of dogged reporting. From the campaign in 2020 to 2024 when he dropped out, Jake raised concerns about President Biden’s mental stamina on his shows, questioned Biden officials directly about his health on air, and consistently encouraged open discussion and debate on the issue.

The CNN post can be seen here:

The deceptive edits include quotes where Tapper was citing arguments made by the Biden White House, which are presented in the clip as Tapper’s own, or other comments totally stripped of context.

At 0:18 in the video above, the clip shows Tapper saying, “President Biden embraces his stutter, talking about it, while Trump mocks it, exaggerates it, belittles it.”

The full quote shows he was citing the Washington Post report: “Lastly I want to get to something because The Washington Post just put out a piece examining how President Biden embraces his stutter, talking about it, while Trump mocks it, exaggerates it, belittles it. Trump advisor Jason Miller quite remarkably responded quote ‘President Trump has never mocked Joe Biden’s speech impediment. He’s simply called out the fact Biden is a cognitively impaired, low-IQ individual.’ unquote.”

At 1:03 in the video, another snippet shows Tapper saying, “False claims to the Wall Street Journal about President Biden’s mental fitness and acuity.”

Again, the full quote includes crucial context: “Plus, the White House today slamming Republicans for what the White House calls false claims to The Wall Street Journal about President Biden’s mental fitness and acuity. Ahead, I’m gonna talk to somebody who knows the president well about the reporting and the age concerns.”

At 1:08, the clip shows Tapper saying, “He’s 81 and his memory, you know, it doesn’t seem great. It’s not horrible, but I don’t understand the outrage.”

However, the entire statement adds crucial nuance that changes the tenor of the comment: “The basic argument you’re making is that by calling President Biden a sympathetic, well meaning, old man — elderly man — with a poor memory, which is how he thought he would come across to a jury, that that’s political but what part of that construct is inaccurate? I mean I assume you think he’s sympathetic and well meaning. He’s 81 and his memory, you know, it doesn’t seem great, it’s not horrible. But I don’t understand the outrage.”

And the final cut, cited by CNN PR above and perhaps the most misleading, shows Tapper referring to a piece from the Wall Street Journal on Biden’s decline, in which he says: “The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp., which is run by the Murdoch’s.”

The full quote? “In our politics lead, The White House today vehemently pushing back on the new report on the President’s age and mental acuity. The White House communications director posting that the story in The Wall Street Journal was a complete and utter editorial failure by The Wall Street Journal. Makes you wonder who they’re taking orders from, unquote. Maybe that’s an insinuation because The Wall Street Journal is owned by News Corp., which is run by the Murdoch’s. This is all in response to this headline today from The Journal quote behind closed doors, Biden shows signs of slipping unquote.”

Tapper has received a raft of criticism from conservative outlets like Fox News and The Federalist. Unfortunately for both outlets, in many instance they relied on this video to bolster their points, unaware that the edits were misleading. The fact that they didn’t do their own research, fact-checking, or sourcing reveals a much bigger issue with their own editorial standards. Oh, the irony.

When reached for comment, Elliot admitted that two of the edits were misleading, then followed with a slew of subjective insults toward Tapper that Mediaite has decided not to publish.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.