The cover-up offormer President Joe Biden's mental declinemight be a bigger scandal than Watergate, CNN host Jake Tapper acknowledged Monday. Tapper, the co-author of anew bookdetailing Democratic efforts to hide Biden's deteriorating health from the public during his 2024 re-election campaign, was asked by Piers Morgan why he concluded in the book – "Original Sin" – that theefforts to prop upthe octogenarian former president were not akin to the 1972 burglary at the Democratic National Committee headquarters that eventually forced Richard Nixon to resign. "Joe Biden is not Richard Nixon, and the hiding and cover-up of his deterioration is not Watergate.' I am not entirely sure I agree, Jake, with that conclusion," Morgan, host of"Piers Morgan Uncensored,"told Tapper, quoting from his book. The CNN host noted that he considers the Biden health cover-up "an entirely separate scandal" from Watergate but "a scandal" nonetheless. "It is a scandal. It is without question – and maybe even worse than Watergate in some ways," Tapper admitted, adding, "Because Richard Nixon was in control of his faculties when he was not drinking." Tapper insisted that he and "Original Sin" co-author Alex Thompson didn't "mean to exonerate" by concluding the Biden scandal was "not Watergate." "The only reason that we have the Watergate thing in there is because we quote Archibald Cox, who was a Watergate investigator, talking about how powerful the presidency is and how presidents get surrounded by people who have a vested interest in keeping that president propped up." "This is an entirely separate scandal," Tapper reiterated. "Maybe even worse … maybe even worse." While promoting his book, the CNN host hasdrawn criticismover his past coverage of Biden, including accusations that he insufficiently reported on the former president's health concerns during his term. "I think some of the criticism is fair, to be honest," Tapper told CNN earlier this month. "Of me, certainly. I'm not going to speak for anybody else, but knowing then what I know now, I look back at my coverage during the Biden years — and I did cover some of these issues, but not enough," he added. "I look back on it with humility." Asked point blank by Morgan if he owed the American people an apology, Tapper responded: "I feel like I owe the American people an acknowledgement that I wish I had covered the story better." In their book, released last week, Tapper and Thompson chronicle Biden's mounting health struggles during his term in the White House and his inner circle's attempt to cover up the decline and get him re-elected. The authors detail how Biden apparently didn't recognize actor and Democratic supporter George Clooney — in an incidentthat left the Hollywood star"shaken to his core" – and recall how aides seriously considered putting the president in a wheelchair and took steps to ensure he didn't fall in public. Biden ended his run for re-election about a month after his disastrous June 2024 debate performance against Donald Trump.
