CNN host Jake Tapper made a stunning admission during a show segment on Friday during a discussion about the political baggage Joe Biden may or may not have to deal with regarding his son, Hunter Biden, and his various scandals, many of which appear to involve the president as well.
During a roundtable conversation centered on a potential political “blind spot” that President Biden might face in relation to his son as the 2024 campaign cycle approaches, Tapper played two video clips from the 2020 debates.
In the clips, then-President Donald Trump and the then-Democratic nominee Biden engaged in intense disputes over Hunter, with Trump accusing him of making millions from business involvement in countries like China and Ukraine, which led to vehement denials by Biden.
“Let’s turn to the Biden administration because Jeff [Zeleny], you have some new reporting that President Biden might have a blind spot, according to people around him when it comes to his son Hunter Biden’s legal troubles and concerns about how this might impact his desire to be reelected. What do you got? What are you hearing?” Tapper said to begin the segment.
“Well, look, this is something that the President was hoping to put behind him. They were hoping that the plea agreement would go through, et cetera. Now there is very likely to be a trial unfolding at the same time as a presidential campaign. Even worse, a second special counsel’s investigation on top of the one that’s already investigating the President for classified documents,” Zeleny responded.
He added:
So the point, talking to a bunch of advisors, is that this is something that is not discussed around the President in his orbit because they do not think voters care about it. They think voters care about the economy, other matters. They’re probably right about that. However, we know that this is going to be a central piece of the Republican debate and Republican talking points next week and beyond, the Hunter Biden situation. So what do swing voters think of Hunter Biden? As of now, they’ve never sort of drawn a correlation or blamed the President for his son’s conduct. They feel sympathy for him, et cetera.
But is there a blind spot directly around him and the campaign by not talking about this? It’s verboten. You can’t talk about Hunter Biden. We’ll see. This is definitely going to be a topic on the debate stage this week.
“Yes. And Kristen, Glenn Kessler from The Washington Post had a fact check about Joe Biden from earlier this month noting that Hunter Biden admitted in court in July that he was, in fact, paid substantial sums from Chinese companies,” Tapper replied.
“Kessler wrote, Hunter Biden reported nearly $2.4 million in income in 2017 and 2.2 million in income in 2018, most of which came from Chinese or Ukrainian interests. But this — and this directly goes against what Joe Biden said in the debate in 2020 with Donald Trump. Take a listen,” he said before playing the two clips:
BIDEN: My son has not made money in terms of this thing about what are you talking about, what are you talking about, China.
(CROSSTALK)
TRUMP: He made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow —
BIDEN: That is simply not true.
TRUMP: — and various other places.
Tapper then responded: “So this is from two different debates. But I mean, Trump was right. I mean, he did make a fortune from China, and Joe Biden was wrong. I don’t know that he was lying about it. He might not have been told by Hunter. But this blind spot is a problem.”
