CNN’s Jake Tapper Defends ‘Heroic’ WSJ Reporters Against ‘Smear Campaign’ – Twitchy

As you no doubt know, CNN’s Jake Tapper has been making the rounds this week promoting his new book about the White House cover-up of President Joe Biden’s physical and mental decline while in office. Many are calling Tapper a fraud, releasing a book about a cover-up of which he and his network were an integral part. Check out how Tapper angrily laid into Lara Trump for assuming she could diagnose Biden’s deteriorating condition. She’s no doctor. So, is every one of the 200 people interviewed for Tapper’s book one of Biden’s physicians?

Tapper had as guests on his show “The Lead With Jake Tapper” two “heroic” Wall Street Journal reporters who reported on Biden’s declining health during the 2024 campaign. Tapper now says they were victims of a smear campaign for telling the truth … which CNN most certainly did not.

Jake Tapper Rips Democrats for ‘Smear Campaign’ Against ‘Heroic’ WSJ Reporters: ‘Disgraceful’ https://t.co/RCRrUOXv8A

— Mediaite (@Mediaite) May 14, 2025

Mediaite reports:

Introducing the reporters to his CNN show The Lead, Tapper welcomed “two of the heroic reporters that were covering this intensely during the Biden years, Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes,” who “reported on the decline of Biden’s acuity back in June of last year.”

Tapper then remarked, “I said it last year before the election, and I’ll say it again, the journalism you did was vital, and the smear campaign by Democrats against you two is disgraceful. So thanks for being here.”

…

Asking the two reporters whether they felt “vindicated” when their story was seemingly proven true following Biden’s disastrous performance in the first 2024 presidential debate against Donald Trump, Linskey replied, “Yeah, I mean, I do. I do feel that our reporting has been vindicated, you know, particularly after that first story came out and there was such blowback by Democrats, and really ten minutes into that debate, I know that my phone was blowing up with some people apologizing for their criticism of us, and you know, from there we were off and running.”

She continued, “So there is a vindication, but it was just really gut-wrenching reporting, and it was a difficult period, but an important one, and I’m glad we did it.”

Recommended

Tapper, get a mirror already. Geez. And “gut-wrenching reporting.” Seriously?

Jake Tapper’s book tour is the most brazenly fraudulent scam.

Tapper today denounces Democrats as “disgraceful” for their “smear campaign” against “heroic” WSJ reporters who reported on Biden’s cognitive decline.

See video below: it was *Tapper* who smeared the WSJ for that! https://t.co/XdgIO0kZch

— Glenn Greenwald (@ggreenwald) May 14, 2025

As we said, a fraud.

Jake Tapper did not bring these reporters on his show when the report was released last June. Instead, he brought on Chris Coons to discredit the report and noted that it was a Murdoch-owned outlet.

Now that it can all be told and there’s nothing left to lose, he can tell them… https://t.co/au0MNQ7wgk

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 15, 2025

Notice those two WSJ reporters didn’t get lucrative book deals. They get invited on Jake Tapper’s show where he can thank them for his lucrative book deal.

— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) May 15, 2025

They did get mentioned in his book, though, so there’s that.

This must be a cheap fake of Tapper!

— Badbrothers (@Badbrothers__) May 15, 2025

He could write 100 books after the fact but everyone already knows.

History will not be kind to him

— Stock Comm Group (@stockcommgroup) May 15, 2025

Tapper is truly shameless.

— Dave Geer (@Dave_W_Geer) May 15, 2025

I’m trying to decide if Jake Tapper has less shame or less ethics. It’s a tough one.

— BioPharmaWrestling (@BioPharmaMeat) May 15, 2025

Tapper was part of the smear campaign, and yet he tells the two that they’re mentioned in his book. “You’re heroic. Don’t worry, you’re portrayed positively,” he assured them. 

The hypocrisy is actually palpable. To be a human, all he’d have to do is acknowledge it and apologize.

— Justin Skibinski (@Justinskibs) May 14, 2025

At best, he’s claimed that he’s looked back on the time “with humility.”

***