Stephen A. Smith is a New York Times Bestselling Author, Executive Producer, host of ESPN's First Take, and co-host of NBA Countdown.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
After a long build up of promotion and leaked excerpts,
a new book by journalist Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
is shedding new light on the cognitive decline of former
President Joe Biden. The book, entitled Original Sin, depicts alleged
attempts by the President's family and close aids to shield
his mental lapses from the public.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
This may be one of the most highly anticipated political
book releases.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In sometime, but it has many including the Daily shows
John Stewart and The Women of the View, questioning if
one of CNN's lead anchors was withholding information critical to
the public for the benefit of selling copies.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Another one of those people was Megan Kelly, Please take
a look at.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
This over here in my ecosphere. We were covering all
of these. It wasn't just falling down, it was getting lost.
It was some of the stuff you report in your book.
We knew and we were reporting on the multi jump
cuts in the videos of him, or it was obvious
he couldn't get through a one minute take. It was
clear to us that he was using teleprompter, and there
(01:10):
was some reporting on that at the time, all of
which the White House was denying. Now with the current
White House, I have some connections with the Joe Biden
White House.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I had none, but you did. There was an attempted
cover up.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It could only ever work if you allowed it, if
the press allowed it.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Some of us tried not to, and some of us
were complicit.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
The Biden White House did not like me. Okay, this
is I do not have great connections with the Biden
White House.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, clearly a lot of sources.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
He said, you talked to over two hundred sources for
this book, so I could have called and worked.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I know.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
That's the point is that they were not being honest.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That's how the.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Street Journal get it.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
In June of twenty twenty four and Jake Tapper and
CNN couldn't find sources for this story.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Then before he dropped out.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Annie Lynsky and Shavon Hughes did an amazing job in
their reporting and and they should be heralded. And I
heralded them.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I had them on my.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Show right after the debate to talk about the great reporting.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
To the debate.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
But you did not put them on when they published
that story, which was before the debate.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was, but
it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure, I'm
sure I said that they.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Let's book that did they?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You put on a Democrat and you allowed the Democrat
to rip on the report as a Rupert Murdoch sponsored
hit piece.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's just that that's going to do.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
If we're going to if we're going to do this,
let's just stick to the facts here, Okay, when there
is a damnating report.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
That's what I've been doing all along.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm wanting you didn't miss the biggest story of the
century when it comes to presidential politics, and one of
us did out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let me say this, ladies and gentlemen, just as an aside,
I've been a guest on Megan Kelly's show at least
a couple of times. I'll probably be back on in
a week or so. You don't say to Megan Kelly,
let's stick to the facts. I've seen on a real
(03:17):
time with Bill Mark.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I saw her there.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I've been watching her for years. I respect the hell
out of that woman. She does not play, she does
not pull punches. She gives you facts, she lives on them,
and on top of it all, when there are personal
relationships involved, as was the case with Pete Hegseth in
(03:45):
route to him becoming our Secretary of Defense. She was
very transparent about her relationship with him. She does not play.
She is not a joke.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
She is legit.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I respect the hell out of that woman, I really do.
And to say, let's stick to the facts. I would
like to say Jake Tapper was in trouble then, but
it was actually before then, but certainly at that particular
moment in time, he's supposed to be coming on this
(04:16):
show soon.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I hope I do.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Half as good of a job as she did, because
she had it all. The fact remains that there were
people who had come on CNN who had appeared on
Jake Tapper's show, like Laura Trump did, and he simimlarily
(04:41):
dismissed them, which he openly admits. He confessed to having
a private conversation in the aftermath of learning the facts
and essentially apologizing to Laura Trump at that particular moment
in time.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Does that make up for how dismissed if he was
towards her, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I would encourage everybody to go and watch that interview
from start to finish. I would encourage everybody to look
at what she was saying and to really really get
into the weeds of it all. I was afraid, I'm
gonna throw myself out here.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now. I called out Joe Biden.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferve
and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I called it out a year in advance.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I got a viscerated, a viscerated and I'm not quote
unquote conservative, so I can relate to Megan Kelly sitting
before him and being pretty pissed off because the conservative
media was right. The conservative media was right, and the
(06:00):
media wasn't just wrong. The challenge is wasn't intentional. Now,
I'm not here to accuse Jake Tapper that I'll ask
him when I speak to him, but there is no
doubt that one of the issues that's really permeating, that
can't be avoided.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Is that the.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Democrat the Democratic Party was demanding that you flow with
and you vibe with what they wanted you to, and if.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You did it, they were ready to have your ass canceled.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Which is why you had so many people lamenting cancel culture,
which is why you have somebody like me Vinnie.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
From the PbD podcast, Love You, Bro, Love you.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
But this is why you have people like me saying, Yo,
we're pretty ticked off because those are.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Not things we knew.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And when you see the Democrats engaging and a level
of duplicity that you don't like, you're offended by it. Now,
somebody like he would say, well, we were there with
Trump all along. Well, that sounds like a loyalty the
Trump instead of loyalty to America. Just because that's your
dude and you were vibing with him, don't mean you
(07:18):
knew factually and definitively that there was truth being told
about the Democrats that the rest of us were oblivious to.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Megan Kelly came to find that out along with others.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
My man Sean Hannity says, religiously, Hey, liberal media is dead.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
This is what he was talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The Mark Levinz, the Sean Hannity's, the Clay Travis's of
the world, and others, the Magan Kelly's of the world.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
What can we say to them at this particular moment
in time.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
If you are a Democrat who bought in to the
Democratic Party, willing to engage in cancel culture. When it
came to anybody who would dare verbalize a dissenting opinion
to what they were putting out there, what can we
say CNN was clearly guilty of it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We all show.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
We saw Joe Scarborough, saw Joe Scarborough going on MSNBC
with Morning Joe. We saw him on the national airwaves
saying raving about President Biden's health in acuity.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
We saw it.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
But there was clearly evidence to the contrary, and when
that evidence was revealed, people on the left engaged in
condemnation towards those who did have the guts to tell
what clearly has now become the truth.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You can get into the.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Timing of Jake Tapper and his book coming out and
how the publicity of it all is venturing around Biden's
announcement that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
You can lament that all day till the cows come home.
You're trying to sell a book. You're trying to sell
a book. You wrote the book, you put in the work,
you got a right to promote the book.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
But the point is CNN.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And other platforms, if indeed you engaged in the kind
of behavior that dissuaded and minimized and dare I say
condemned those who dare challenge the mental acuity and the help.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And the overall health of Joe Biden. What do you
have to say for yourself? Now?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It is a legitimate question. It is a legitimate question.
Our plored Jake Tapper for showing up to Megan Kelly show.
He knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but boy did
he rate get raked through the Kohs Bayha with nothing
but facts, Nothing but facts. And now, if you're the
(10:07):
Democratic Party, please understand that when I said Monday, you're
the political version of Lance Armstrong, Please understand I'm not
backing up from that statement one minute, one bit. I
mean it, Lance Armstrong was lying through his damn teeth
about taking performance enhancing drugs when.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
He was accused of it. He didn't just deny it.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He tried to ruin the lives of those who were
telling the truth about them. And now that we reflect
on what transpired with Joe Biden and how complicit the
Democratic Party appears to have been in all of that,
what are we to say about them? It ain't about Trump,
(10:56):
It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that part from
WoT coaching to cancel culture, vibe with us, or you
got to get bounced out of here. You got rid
of your own. Andrew Cmo is a problem until he
leaves office. Then all of a sudden, practically all the
cases go away. Ol Frankin and his behavior as a
(11:20):
comedian is a problem, even though you had him Lockstock
and Barrel in a Senate seat for the Democrats in Minneapolis,
and then all of a sudden he's out and now
stuff don't matter that much anymore. Time and time and
time again, the Democrats have eaten their own.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And spit him out. Hell. Listening to Bernie.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Sanders speak, one would argue, you're doing it to him.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
This is bad, this is very bad. And I think
that as Jake Tapper.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Goes around a circuit promoting his book and the more
facts we learn from this book, I think irreparable harm
is going to be done to the Democrats. I think
the midterms are in jeopardy. I think the presidency in
(12:32):
twenty twenty eight is in jeopardy. It's really bad, y'all.
It's really bad. And getting back to Jake Tapper, here's
what I will say, based purely on the Megan Kelly interview,
not knowing anything else at this particular moment in time
because I haven't read the book. Obviously, If all of
(12:55):
these assertions are true, it's gonna be real interesting to
watch the fallout directly involving Jake Tapper.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Because other people have been let go for what some
would surmise us less feel me. I'm just saying it's
gonna be real interesting to watch what happens
After a long build up of promotion and leaked excerpts,
a new book by journalist Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson
is shedding new light on the cognitive decline of former
President Joe Biden. The book, entitled Original Sin, depicts alleged
attempts by the President's family and close aids to shield
his mental lapses from the public.
Speaker 2 (00:23):
This may be one of the most highly anticipated political
book releases.
Speaker 1 (00:26):
In sometime, but it has many including the Daily shows
John Stewart and The Women of the View, questioning if
one of CNN's lead anchors was withholding information critical to
the public for the benefit of selling copies.
Speaker 2 (00:43):
Another one of those people was Megan Kelly, Please take
a look at.
Speaker 3 (00:48):
This over here in my ecosphere. We were covering all
of these. It wasn't just falling down, it was getting lost.
It was some of the stuff you report in your book.
We knew and we were reporting on the multi jump
cuts in the videos of him, or it was obvious
he couldn't get through a one minute take. It was
clear to us that he was using teleprompter, and there
(01:10):
was some reporting on that at the time, all of
which the White House was denying. Now with the current
White House, I have some connections with the Joe Biden
White House.
Speaker 4 (01:18):
I had none, but you did. There was an attempted
cover up.
Speaker 3 (01:21):
It could only ever work if you allowed it, if
the press allowed it.
Speaker 4 (01:26):
Some of us tried not to, and some of us
were complicit.
Speaker 5 (01:29):
The Biden White House did not like me. Okay, this
is I do not have great connections with the Biden
White House.
Speaker 4 (01:36):
Well, clearly a lot of sources.
Speaker 3 (01:38):
He said, you talked to over two hundred sources for
this book, so I could have called and worked.
Speaker 2 (01:43):
I know.
Speaker 5 (01:44):
That's the point is that they were not being honest.
Speaker 2 (01:47):
That's how the.
Speaker 4 (01:48):
Street Journal get it.
Speaker 3 (01:49):
In June of twenty twenty four and Jake Tapper and
CNN couldn't find sources for this story.
Speaker 4 (01:53):
Then before he dropped out.
Speaker 5 (01:55):
Annie Lynsky and Shavon Hughes did an amazing job in
their reporting and and they should be heralded. And I
heralded them.
Speaker 2 (02:04):
I had them on my.
Speaker 5 (02:05):
Show right after the debate to talk about the great reporting.
Speaker 4 (02:09):
To the debate.
Speaker 3 (02:09):
But you did not put them on when they published
that story, which was before the debate.
Speaker 5 (02:16):
Correct. I don't know what the booking situation was, but
it wasn't because I didn't want them. I'm sure, I'm
sure I said that they.
Speaker 4 (02:23):
Let's book that did they?
Speaker 3 (02:24):
You put on a Democrat and you allowed the Democrat
to rip on the report as a Rupert Murdoch sponsored
hit piece.
Speaker 2 (02:33):
It's just that that's going to do.
Speaker 5 (02:35):
If we're going to if we're going to do this,
let's just stick to the facts here, Okay, when there
is a damnating report.
Speaker 4 (02:42):
That's what I've been doing all along.
Speaker 3 (02:45):
I'm wanting you didn't miss the biggest story of the
century when it comes to presidential politics, and one of
us did out.
Speaker 1 (02:55):
Let me say this, ladies and gentlemen, just as an aside,
I've been a guest on Megan Kelly's show at least
a couple of times. I'll probably be back on in
a week or so. You don't say to Megan Kelly,
let's stick to the facts. I've seen on a real
(03:17):
time with Bill Mark.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
I saw her there.
Speaker 1 (03:21):
I've been watching her for years. I respect the hell
out of that woman. She does not play, she does
not pull punches. She gives you facts, she lives on them,
and on top of it all, when there are personal
relationships involved, as was the case with Pete Hegseth in
(03:45):
route to him becoming our Secretary of Defense. She was
very transparent about her relationship with him. She does not play.
She is not a joke.
Speaker 2 (03:54):
She is legit.
Speaker 1 (03:56):
I respect the hell out of that woman, I really do.
And to say, let's stick to the facts. I would
like to say Jake Tapper was in trouble then, but
it was actually before then, but certainly at that particular
moment in time, he's supposed to be coming on this
(04:16):
show soon.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
I hope I do.
Speaker 1 (04:19):
Half as good of a job as she did, because
she had it all. The fact remains that there were
people who had come on CNN who had appeared on
Jake Tapper's show, like Laura Trump did, and he simimlarily
(04:41):
dismissed them, which he openly admits. He confessed to having
a private conversation in the aftermath of learning the facts
and essentially apologizing to Laura Trump at that particular moment
in time.
Speaker 2 (04:53):
Does that make up for how dismissed if he was
towards her, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (05:00):
I would encourage everybody to go and watch that interview
from start to finish. I would encourage everybody to look
at what she was saying and to really really get
into the weeds of it all. I was afraid, I'm
gonna throw myself out here.
Speaker 2 (05:16):
Now. I called out Joe Biden.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
And the diminished mental acuity and a lack of ferve
and the incapacitation that so many that people were alluding to.
Speaker 2 (05:31):
I called it out a year in advance.
Speaker 1 (05:33):
I got a viscerated, a viscerated and I'm not quote
unquote conservative, so I can relate to Megan Kelly sitting
before him and being pretty pissed off because the conservative
media was right. The conservative media was right, and the
(06:00):
media wasn't just wrong. The challenge is wasn't intentional. Now,
I'm not here to accuse Jake Tapper that I'll ask
him when I speak to him, but there is no
doubt that one of the issues that's really permeating, that
can't be avoided.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Is that the.
Speaker 1 (06:22):
Democrat the Democratic Party was demanding that you flow with
and you vibe with what they wanted you to, and if.
Speaker 2 (06:34):
You did it, they were ready to have your ass canceled.
Speaker 1 (06:39):
Which is why you had so many people lamenting cancel culture,
which is why you have somebody like me Vinnie.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
From the PbD podcast, Love You, Bro, Love you.
Speaker 1 (06:49):
But this is why you have people like me saying, Yo,
we're pretty ticked off because those are.
Speaker 2 (06:55):
Not things we knew.
Speaker 1 (06:57):
And when you see the Democrats engaging and a level
of duplicity that you don't like, you're offended by it. Now,
somebody like he would say, well, we were there with
Trump all along. Well, that sounds like a loyalty the
Trump instead of loyalty to America. Just because that's your
dude and you were vibing with him, don't mean you
(07:18):
knew factually and definitively that there was truth being told
about the Democrats that the rest of us were oblivious to.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
Megan Kelly came to find that out along with others.
Speaker 1 (07:31):
My man Sean Hannity says, religiously, Hey, liberal media is dead.
Speaker 2 (07:40):
This is what he was talking about.
Speaker 1 (07:45):
The Mark Levinz, the Sean Hannity's, the Clay Travis's of
the world, and others, the Magan Kelly's of the world.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
What can we say to them at this particular moment
in time.
Speaker 1 (07:58):
If you are a Democrat who bought in to the
Democratic Party, willing to engage in cancel culture. When it
came to anybody who would dare verbalize a dissenting opinion
to what they were putting out there, what can we
say CNN was clearly guilty of it.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
We all show.
Speaker 1 (08:21):
We saw Joe Scarborough, saw Joe Scarborough going on MSNBC
with Morning Joe. We saw him on the national airwaves
saying raving about President Biden's health in acuity.
Speaker 2 (08:36):
We saw it.
Speaker 1 (08:40):
But there was clearly evidence to the contrary, and when
that evidence was revealed, people on the left engaged in
condemnation towards those who did have the guts to tell
what clearly has now become the truth.
Speaker 2 (08:58):
You can get into the.
Speaker 1 (08:59):
Timing of Jake Tapper and his book coming out and
how the publicity of it all is venturing around Biden's
announcement that he has an aggressive form of prostate cancer.
You can lament that all day till the cows come home.
You're trying to sell a book. You're trying to sell
a book. You wrote the book, you put in the work,
you got a right to promote the book.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
But the point is CNN.
Speaker 1 (09:23):
And other platforms, if indeed you engaged in the kind
of behavior that dissuaded and minimized and dare I say
condemned those who dare challenge the mental acuity and the help.
Speaker 2 (09:39):
And the overall health of Joe Biden. What do you
have to say for yourself? Now?
Speaker 1 (09:45):
It is a legitimate question. It is a legitimate question.
Our plored Jake Tapper for showing up to Megan Kelly show.
He knew it wasn't gonna be easy, but boy did
he rate get raked through the Kohs Bayha with nothing
but facts, Nothing but facts. And now, if you're the
(10:07):
Democratic Party, please understand that when I said Monday, you're
the political version of Lance Armstrong, Please understand I'm not
backing up from that statement one minute, one bit. I
mean it, Lance Armstrong was lying through his damn teeth
about taking performance enhancing drugs when.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
He was accused of it. He didn't just deny it.
Speaker 1 (10:29):
He tried to ruin the lives of those who were
telling the truth about them. And now that we reflect
on what transpired with Joe Biden and how complicit the
Democratic Party appears to have been in all of that,
what are we to say about them? It ain't about Trump,
(10:56):
It's not about Kamala Harris. It's about that part from
WoT coaching to cancel culture, vibe with us, or you
got to get bounced out of here. You got rid
of your own. Andrew Cmo is a problem until he
leaves office. Then all of a sudden, practically all the
cases go away. Ol Frankin and his behavior as a
(11:20):
comedian is a problem, even though you had him Lockstock
and Barrel in a Senate seat for the Democrats in Minneapolis,
and then all of a sudden he's out and now
stuff don't matter that much anymore. Time and time and
time again, the Democrats have eaten their own.
Speaker 2 (11:46):
And spit him out. Hell. Listening to Bernie.
Speaker 1 (11:52):
Sanders speak, one would argue, you're doing it to him.
Speaker 2 (11:58):
This is bad, this is very bad. And I think
that as Jake Tapper.
Speaker 1 (12:11):
Goes around a circuit promoting his book and the more
facts we learn from this book, I think irreparable harm
is going to be done to the Democrats. I think
the midterms are in jeopardy. I think the presidency in
(12:32):
twenty twenty eight is in jeopardy. It's really bad, y'all.
It's really bad. And getting back to Jake Tapper, here's
what I will say, based purely on the Megan Kelly interview,
not knowing anything else at this particular moment in time
because I haven't read the book. Obviously, If all of
(12:55):
these assertions are true, it's gonna be real interesting to
watch the fallout directly involving Jake Tapper.
Speaker 2 (13:08):
Because other people have been let go for what some
would surmise us less feel me. I'm just saying it's
gonna be real interesting to watch what happens
Host
Stephen A. Smith
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