Curtis Houck
@MegynKelly grills @JakeTapper over his dismissal in June 2024 of the bombshell WSJ story about Biden’s decline because it was done by a Murdoch-owned outlet. Tapper responds by seeming to suggest the clips of Biden’s gaffes are less significant than the reporting he did for his book.... Kelly: “Then how did The Wall Street Journal get it in June of 2024 and Jake Tapper and CNN couldn't find sources for this story then before he dropped out?” Tapper: “Annie Linsky and Siobhan Hughes did an amazing job in their reporting. And — and they should be heralded and I heralded them. I had them on my show right after the debate to talk about the great reporting. But Annie Linskey —” Kelly: “After the debate! But you did not put them on when they published that story, which was before the debate.” Tapper: “Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was, but it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure I said that day let's book.” Kelly: “Well, instead —” Tapper: “I'm sure I said that day let's book —” Kelly: “— instead you —” Tapper: “— did they —” Kelly: “Yeah, you —“ Tapper: “— yeah?” Kelly: “— you put on a Democrat and — and you allowed the Democrats to rip out the report as a Rupert Murdoch-sponsored hit piece.” Tapper: “No, no, no.” Kelly: “It’s just —” Tapper: “Megyn!” Kelly: “What? That’s — that’s what happened. Go ahead” Tapper: “If we're gonna, if we're gonna, if we're gonna do this, let's just stick to the facts here, okay? When there is a damaging report —” Kelly: “Jake, that is what I've been doing all along.” Tapper: “— I’m talking about what you just said.” Kelly: “One of us —” Tapper: “I just — I just —” Kelly: “— didn’t miss the biggest story of the century when it comes to presidential politics, and one of us did.” Tapper: “— okay. So, the — there is a difference — okay? — between the clips of Joe Biden falling on a stage at the Air Force Academy graduation, there is a difference between the clip of Joe Biden embarrassingly for forgetting that a Republican member of Congress who he's talking about has died. Those are embarrassing. Those are important, but there is a difference between that and the investigative journalism that Alex and I were able to do and only able to do after the election. And I know you know this because you've been talking about the scoops in the book, and you've been talking about —” Kelly: “I don’t — I don’t diminish —” Tapper: “— all of the —” Kelly: “— the importance of the book. I don't — I — I have supported the importance of the book and we'll talk about the contents of the book at length, but there is no way we can have that conversation with an audience that is as skeptical of your ability to tell the story as mine is without addressing your role in this, right? Like, Alex is a different story. But you know. You've watched the coverage since it came out that you wrote this book there are just a legion of — of articles about how comparing you in some instances to, like, OJ instead of if I did it, this is if I hid it”