Curtis Houck
@MegynKelly battles @JakeTapper over his 2020 interview with Lara Trump dismissing her mentioning Joe Biden’s cognitive decline.... Kelly: “Do you want to apologize to Lara Trump now?” Tapper: “I've already apologized to her. I called her months ago.” Kelly: “And what did she say?” Tapper: “I — I mean, I don't want to disclose the — the contents of a private conversation, but I thought the conversation went well, and she said she has said this publicly, so I'm — I feel fine sharing it. She said that she would never mock anybody's stutter, but I mean — I — you know, after we did the research for this book and I realized how bad his acuity issues were — I — like I — I — called Lara Trump and I — I said you were — you right.” Kelly: “She was totally right. And that's the thing, because when I watched that clip and I'm — I'm giving voice to what a lot of people watching the show are feeling, Jake. I feel angry because she was right and not only did you not allow her to make her comments, but you — you seem to try to humiliate her. You — you had a hostility toward the position, but she was totally right and then —” Tapper: “So —” Kelly: “— you lectured her on how she was in no position to diagnose cognitive decline —” Tapper: “— okay.” Kelly: “— which you guys do at length, including on page four of your book.” Tapper: “Well —” Kelly: “You describe at length his cognitive decline, which is all she tried to do with you, but you had such a visceral reaction to her and my feeling is that's because you didn't want to hear it.” Tapper: “No, that — I mean if we can, I'm happy to talk about this. I — I didn't come here thinking that you weren't going to ask me about this, so I'm happy to talk to you about it.” Kelly: “Oh, I know.” Tapper: “The first time I saw the coverage of Laura Trump's comments, which were interpreted as her mocking Joe Biden's stutter was in January 2020. I read it in conservative media. I read it in the Daily Mail, and that's where I saw that her comments were being interpreted that way. After those comments were publicized, it got a lot of coverage and Sully Sullenberger wrote an op ed in The New York Times criticizing her about this, so that's the context for that — that I was following up on a story that had been out there months before. This is also in the context of October 2020, a very intense time. People on the Biden side are saying crazy things about Trump. People on the Trump side are saying crazy things about Biden, including Don Jr. suggesting that Joe Biden is a pedophile, so that is the larger context. But as I said, her comments have aged well. My comments have aged poorly. I own that.”