CNN host Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson reveal in their book Original Sin that former President Joe Biden’s cabinet meeting was too “scripted”, a cognitive decline in Biden and what his administration calls a cover-up.
“Cabinet meetings are terrible, sometimes uncomfortable – and they get very uncomfortable from the start,” a cabinet member told the author. “I don't remember a great cabinet meeting in terms of his presence. They are such scripts.”
According to Tapper and Thompson, the White House speaker shortened Biden’s remarks and narrowed his vocabulary to accommodate “Biden’s ability to decline.” Biden's aide told reporters during his tenure that he is increasingly relying on TV relayers and notepad cards, even for private conversations and cabinet meetings.
Four cabinet members who spoke with Tapper and Thompson described Biden's meeting as too scripted. One cabinet secretary said he hated the “script” of the cabinet meeting, while another cabinet secretary suspected that he could run for re-election in 2022.
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A new book describes President Joe Biden's cabinet meeting as “script” and “discomfortable.” (Photo image of Paul Morigi/Getty, can't wait for action)
One cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson: “You want people to tell you the truth and have real conversations, and these meetings aren’t like that.”
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But as Biden’s bad speech and reliance on note cards became common practice, one speaker author told Tapper and Thompson that over time, “they were just used to it.”
According to “primitive sin”, the story behind closed doors is inconsistent with the White House narrative.
In January 2024, the White House convened a meeting with Biden, his national security adviser and Congress leadership urging Congress to continue economically supporting Ukraine against Russian invasion.
Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, a New York Democrat, spoke at a press conference at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, DC on February 6, 2025. (Bloomberg via Getty Images)
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called Biden “incredibly powerful, powerful and decisive,” and the official White House reading said Biden was “very clear”, “very clear” in protecting national security and “emphasized the importance of Congress to ensure Ukraine has the resources it needs.”
However, Tapper and Thompson wrote: “It’s wrong, and House Democrats said: “That’s wrong. “The Second House Democrats described the meeting as “disaster” and “S — Performance”.
“For the first twenty minutes of the meeting, the President pointed out the bullets from the adhesive effortlessly. For many, it was hard for him to hear. He stumbled and he started to sentence, and then suddenly stopped; he delayed; he delayed; he delayed.”
National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan held a joint press conference with Andrii Yermak, director of the Ukrainian Presidential Office, on March 20, 2024 in Kyiv, Ukraine. (Global image of Ukraine through Getty Images)
A House Democrat said he was “unable to make a strong, powerful argument” and delayed the answers to questions by National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Intelligence Director Avril Haines, as outlined in “The Original Crime.”
Tapper and Thompson described an incident about senior executive officers in the Supreme Court's ruling anniversary of ROE v. WADE. Biden read a remote compiler's “Weak, Muddy” speech, Alabama and Texas and his own cabinet members, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas, and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
A year later, an official told the author: “I blame his inner circle, I blame him.”
As Cabinet members observed about Biden’s daily meetings, Tapper and Thompson described how the president’s circles grew smaller in 2023 and 2024.
President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden arrived at the ocean on the South Lawn of the White House on August 5, 2024 in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
“In 2024, Access dropped drastically in 2024 and I didn't interact with him,” a cabinet secretary told the author. “I didn't get an explanation.”
Cabinet secretary said they introduced them to senior White House aides and then conveyed the message to the president himself. They questioned this as the way the White House filtered information to shape his decision.
Another cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson that he said: “I think people around him have their own agenda and they don’t want more people around him.”
Cabinet members who spoke with Tapper and Thompson described a “weird period” when they were unable to obtain Biden for months between 2023 and 2024. They described it as “a intentional strategy for the White House to have him meet as few people as possible when necessary.” When they saw him, they said they were shocked by his “disord” and “from it,” he looked and muttered, “not much sense.”
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Fox News Digital has written a broad history dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign, covering Biden’s cognitive decline and what his inner circle has accused The role of covering it.
A Biden spokesman did not immediately respond to Fox News numbers' request for comment.
