CNN host plays montage of Biden being 'not coherent,' says president has not assuaged age concerns
CNN host and presidential debate moderator Jake Tapper criticized President Biden in a lengthy monologue Monday after Biden gave multiple interviews defending himself and his mental acuity.
"The reality is that the Democratic elites are mostly late to acknowledge these age and ability issues compared to the rest of the public," Tapper said of Biden's age concerns.
Tapper is one of multiple influential political commentators, media figures and talk show hosts whose criticism of Biden has sharpened after his debate performance.
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"The president and his team have not held a press conference to demonstrate just that," Tapper said. "He continues to do what he has done sparingly in the past, the short taped sit-down with an anchor, in this case George Stephanopoulos."
ABC News host George Stephanopoulos asked Biden if his performance was "a bad episode or the sign of a more serious condition" in an interview Friday.
"It was a bad episode," Biden said. "No indication of a serious condition. I was exhausted. I didn't listen to my instincts in terms of preparing. It was a bad night."
Tapper also played a clip of Biden giving an interview on WURD, a Philadelphia-based Black-owned radio station.
"By the way, I'm proud to be, as I said, the first vice president, first Black woman, to serve with a Black president, proud of the first Black woman in the Supreme Court," Biden said in a rambling interview on "The Source with Andrea Lawful-Sanders."
"He’s proud to be the first Black woman?" Tapper said in response to Biden's comments. "Not coherent."
Andrea Lawful-Sanders admitted during a CNN interview Saturday that Biden's team sent her eight questions to ask ahead of his interview on "The Source" last Wednesday.
On Sunday, WURD's president and CEO, Sara M. Lomax, announced that Lawful-Sanders and WURD have "mutually agreed to part ways," emphasizing that "WURD Radio is not a mouthpiece for the Biden or any other admin."
Tapper said that 72% of voters believe that "President Biden is too old."
"That’s according to CNN’s most recent polling," he said. "Voters have been saying this for quite a long time."
The Biden campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital.
Fox News' Elizabeth Elkind and Yael Halon contributed to this report.