Curtis Houck
@MegynKelly brings the heat with @JakeTapper over his past comments about Joe Biden being “sharp mentally”.... Kelly: “I get it, but your commentary on your show —” Tapper: “— could I — really —” Alex Thompson: “Alright.” Kelly: “— yes, I'm gonna bring you in, but your commentary on your show, Jake, consistently ran in one direction. Occasionally, you would ask —” Tapper: “I don’t think that’s — I don’t think that’s true.” Kelly: “— some tough questions. I mean, here you are on September 2023 —” Tapper: “I just —” Kelly: “— saying that Biden was sharp mentally. September of 2023 —” Tapper: “No, no, no.” Kelly: “— you said —” Tapper: “— hold — no, hold on — hold on!” Kelly: — you said he's sharp mentally.” Tapper: “I’m —” Kelly: “I think the question is physically, right? He's sharp mentally and then you pointed out that his opponent —” Tapper: “— I’m —” Kelly: “Donald Trump was only a couple of years younger than he was. There are many examples where you're doing that kind of coverage.” Tapper: “— okay, so let's — let's be honest and, and full about what you're talking about. Frank Foer —” Kelly: “There’s no problem with honesty on this show.” Tapper: “Okay. Frank Foer — Kelly: “Yeah. Let's watch it. Let’s watch. Yeah, Frank Foer came on with a biography about Joe Biden, which has been —” Tapper: “Frank Foer came on to talk about his biography with Joe Biden, and I'm trying to summarize what his conclusions were. So, he is saying that Biden was —” Kelly: “Okay, where is the part where you say he's not sharp mentally, Frank? We've seen the following 10 examples in the past year, never mind three years?” Tapper: “Where — I wasn't — I — I've already said I wish I had covered this more aggressively. Frank Foer had come to the show to talk about his book about President Biden. This was in September 2023, and I interviewed him about his book, and that was the end of that. Now I — I suppose in retrospect, I say again, I wish I had been more aggressive.” Kelly: “Yeah.” Tapper: “I do, but our reporting suggests, and like I said, we've talked to more than 200 people, Democratic insiders, that the real deterioration of President Biden and yes, there was a degression or regression, whatever you want to call it, deterioration since 2015 . But it really started to intensify in the summer of 2023, when Beau Biden — I'm sorry — when Hunter Biden's plea deal fell apart and Joe Biden was terrified about what that effect would have on his son and people — and people —” Kelly: “I accept that. I accept that it got worse in ‘23.” Tapper: “— and people close to him say that was a real demarcation. And in October 2023, there is the last cabinet meeting for almost a year, and cabinet secretaries tell us that that began — that fall 2023 began what they call a weird period where they were kept at bay, where they were kept away from President Biden.”