The Hunter Biden-Tapper Face-Off

Jake Tapper
For certain members of Biden’s family, there seems to be added indignity in the fact that the final chapter of the former president’s legacy is being co-written by Tapper, specifically. Photo: Valerie Terranova/WireImage/Getty Images
Dylan Byers
May 14, 2025

On Tuesday, Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, the co-authors of Original Sin, the heavily hyped book about President Biden’s cognitive decline and how it was allegedly covered up, launched the opening salvo of their promotional blitz via an excerpt in The New Yorker. The piece was a scathing indictment of Biden’s decision to run for reelection despite his condition, and then drag his feet on withdrawing from the race, even after his infamously disastrous debate performance. There was David Plouffe, the former Obama campaign manager and Harris advisor, stating on the record that Biden had “screwed” and “fucked” the Democrats. There was another Democratic strategist accusing Biden of stealing an election “from the American people.” And there was George Clooney, gutted by Biden’s feebleness and his failure to even recognize him at a Hollywood fundraiser, asserting that the Democrats’ attempt to deceive the country about Biden’s acuity was “how Trump won.”