CNN anchor Jake Tapper ended a combative Sunday interview with Trump campaign senior adviser Lara Trump by pressing the presidential daughter-in-law for openly mocking Joe Biden’s well-known stutter, prompting a tense exchange over the Democratic nominee’s mental fitness for office. At the top of CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, Tapper noted that he had attempted to book members of the White House coronavirus task force, senior White House officials, or the heads of the CDC and FDA to discuss the administration’s middling efforts to combat the pandemic. But the White House declined all requests, so a resigned Tapper […]
Jake Tapper
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The nation’s top infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci demanded that the Trump campaign refrain from using him in future campaign ads, saying Monday that it would be “outrageous” and “terrible” if he was featured in another commercial and it could “come back to backfire” on Team Trump. Asked by The Daily Beast if his comments were a thinly-veiled threat to leave his post if he ended up in a new campaign spot, Fauci: “Not a chance.” “Not in my wildest freakin’ dreams,” he said, “did I ever think about quitting.” From there, Fauci went on to explain what he meant […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper laughed and shook his head on Sunday morning when White House economic adviser Larry Kudlow insisted that the United States is “learning to deal” with the novel coronavirus in a “safe” way, noting that virus infections have been surging across the country. Appearing on Sunday’s State of the Union to discuss the Trump administration’s attempt to restart stimulus deal talks after President Donald Trump announced last week that he was killing negotiations, Kudlow tried to thread a needle by saying the economy had already rebounded sharply but that additional stimulus was still needed. “It’s a question of […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper booted Trump’s campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh on Wednesday after the Trump flack continued to deflect when pressed on the president’s refusal to condemn white supremacists, invoking the much-maligned moderator of Tuesday’s debate in the process. Following an off-the-rails presidential debate that was described by reporters as a “shitshow,” President Donald Trump has faced intense backlash for telling the far-right group Proud Boys to “stand back and stand by” while refusing to disavow right-wing extremists and white supremacy. After multiple aides tried to clean up his remarks on Wednesday by blaming debate moderator Chris Wallace or claiming […]
Criminal-justice reform advocate Alice Johnson spoke on behalf of President Donald Trump at the Republican National Convention Thursday night. But that doesn’t mean she supports him in the 2020 election. Appearing Friday on CNN with Jake Tapper—just hours after Trump issued her a full pardon—Johnson explicitly declined to endorse his campaign. During the interview, Tapper pointed out that while she “praised President Trump for his compassion” in commuting her life sentence for a first-time drug offense, she “did not formally endorse him” in her remarks. “Was that intentional?” he asked. “Do you endorse him?” “Well, you know, I’m so appreciative of […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper repeatedly confronted acting Department of Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf on Sunday over the DHS official’s past support of the “We Build the Wall” fundraising campaign, which federal prosecutors now allege was a scam to personally enrich former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon and campaign founder Brian Kolfage. Last week, Bannon, Kolfage, and two other associates were arrested and indicted on fraud charges, with prosecutors saying they “defrauded hundreds of thousands of donors, capitalizing on their interest in funding a border wall.” Bannon is accused of skimming over $1 million to pay personal expenses and secretly pay […]
White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Sunday defended President Donald Trump’s continued push to delegitimize mail-in voting, brushing off CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s insistence that there’s no evidence of “widespread voter fraud” by retorting that “there’s no evidence that there’s not, either.” In a wild and combative State of the Union interview that spanned nearly 30 minutes, Tapper repeatedly pressed the top aide on the president’s admission last week that he is blocking aid to the United States Postal Service in order to impede mail-in voting this fall. “They need that money in order to have the post office […]
Jake Tapper may be on vacation, but he is incapable of ignoring the news. “It’s difficult to keep away from it, just because, I mean, I am such a news junkie that any attempt to not have my phone right nearby will not work,” the CNN host told Seth Meyers Tuesday night. He said he’s “already up to speed” on the big Jonathan Swan interview, the “horrible tragedy” in Lebanon, and President Trump “flip-flopping on vote-by-mail, as long as it’s in the state he thinks he can win,” adding, “I can’t stop.” The “flip-flop” he was referring to came in a […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper took Assistant Secretary of Health Adm. Brett Giroir to task over the continuing issues with coronavirus testing, asking the coronavirus testing czar if he is “afraid” of bringing these problems up with President Donald Trump. During a contentious 20-minute interview on CNN’s State of the Union on Sunday morning, Tapper repeatedly pressed Giroir on the weeklong delays in coronavirus testing results Americans are experiencing. “Are you happy where testing is right now?” Tapper asked, prompting Giroir to say he’s “never going to be happy” until they have the pandemic under control. While acknowledging that testing is still […]
Shortly after President Donald Trump retweeted a video on Sunday of one of his supporters proudly chanting the racist slogan “white power,” Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC) called on the president to take down the “indefensible” tweet. During an early morning tweetstorm, the president shared a video of seniors at The Villages, a Florida retirement community, engaging in protest. The clip featured some residents chanting “Fuck Trump” while holding up signs accusing the president of racism. Other residents, meanwhile, drove through in golf carts emblazoned with pro-Trump messages, including one man who repeatedly shouted “white power.” “Thank you to the great people […]
White House trade adviser Peter Navarro spun President Donald Trump’s stunning admission that he wanted his administration to slow down coronavirus testing, saying on Sunday morning that the president’s comments were clearly “tongue in cheek” and a light moment. During Saturday night’s sparsely attended campaign rally in Tulsa, the president complained that his administration was looking bad because robust testing had picked up too many COVID-19 cases, calling it a “double-edged sword.” “When you do testing to that extent, you’re going to find more people, you’re going to find more cases,” Trump bellowed. “So I said to my people, ‘Slow the […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper lambasted President Donald Trump on Sunday morning for “standing firm” with Confederate generals as Washington begins moving forward with renaming several military bases named after Lost Cause leaders, noting that the president is openly backing “dead, racist losers.” Amid large nationwide protests over systemic racism and police brutality in the aftermath of George Floyd’s death, there has been a renewed effort to remove Confederate monuments and rename government facilities christened with rebel leaders’ names. This includes the Armed Services Committee in the Senate voting to require the Pentagon to strip military bases and equipment of Confederate names, […]
CNN anchor Jake Tapper repeatedly pressed Housing and Urban Development Secretary Ben Carson on Sunday over his boss President Donald Trump amplifying right-wing attacks on George Floyd’s character while the nation is gripped in social unrest over racism and police brutality. As large protests continued to take place across the country over Floyd’s death at the hands of Minneapolis police, the president retweeted a clip on Friday of right-wing provocateurs Candace Owens and Glenn Beck trashing Floyd. During an interview on CNN’s State of the Union, Tapper asked Carson about his personal calls for unity and how the president has acted. […]
Days after White House trade adviser Peter Navarro faced criticism from within the Trump administration for blasting the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, CNN anchor Jake Tapper valiantly tried and failed on Wednesday to get Navarro to address the controversy. During an appearance on Meet the Press this past Sunday, Navarro threw the CDC under the bus, fully blaming the center for the administration’s early issues with coronavirus testing and claiming it “really let the country down” due to bad tests. Navarro’s remarks about the CDC were quickly rebuked by Health and Human Services Sec. Alex Azar, who told Fox […]
Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar largely punted on Sunday when confronted by CNN anchor Jake Tapper over presidential son Eric Trump’s insane claim that the coronavirus will “magically” disappear after Election Day. In an interview with pro-Trump Fox News host Jeanine Pirro on Saturday night, Eric Trump dove down a conspiratorial rabbit hole while talking about presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden. Claiming Biden “loves” the pandemic because it prevents him from making “horrible blunders” on the campaign trail, the president’s son suggested stay-at-home orders were aimed at shutting down his father’s campaign. “They think they’re taking away Donald […]