Conservative political figures called out CNN host Jake Tapper over his interview with President Joe Biden.
Frustration over Tapper’s interview centered around what conservatives said was the friendly nature of the journalist’s exchange with Biden, as they asserted the interviewer treated the president with too much deference.
At one point during the interview, Tapper asked, “Our reporting, CNN’s reporting, and The Washington Post reporting, suggests that prosecutors think they could – they have enough to charge your son Hunter for tax crimes and a false statement about a gun purchase. Personally and politically, how do you react to that?”
The president responded by saying, “Well, first of all, I’m proud of my son. This is a kid who got, not a kid – he’s a grown man. He got hooked on – like many families have had happen – hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life.”
Joe Biden also said he “didn’t know anything about [the gun],” before Hunter Biden wrote about it in his book. Tapper promptly moved to another issue, without questions about the infamous Hunter Biden laptop.
In the clearest sign yet that charges are coming, CNN’s Jake Tapper asked Joe Biden about Hunter Biden’s alleged felonies. pic.twitter.com/yyylJFjdgU
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) October 12, 2022
The Federalist Editor-in-Chief Molly Hemmingway responded to the interview by saying, “I’m trying to imagine a gentler, easier, softer, less journalistic question than the one asked by CNN’s Russia collusion hoaxer and Democrat activist [Jake Tapper], but it’s impossible.”
NewsBusters Executive Editor Tim Graham tweeted, “Biden didn’t address the criminal charges at all. Because Tapper’s open-ended softball question didn’t make him.”
In another tweet, Graham said, “SORRY. But this question is NOT good enough. ‘How do you react to that?’ is going to get the same ‘Gosh, he wrote about all this stuff in his memoir’ answer. Just ask about something else if you can’t elicit a stronger answer. This is standard soft-serve CNN, not hard-news CNN.”
Several pundits and news organizations, including Sen. Ted Cruz’s communication advisor, Steve Guest, pointed out Joe Biden dropping what appeared to be note cards during the interview.
Conservative political commentator Steve Hilton called the interview “truly terrifying” saying that Biden was “Mumbling about what Putin may or may not do like some bystander commenting on world events rather than a leader trying to shape events.”
“He’s the President of the United States, yet seems incapable of acting like it,” Hilton said.