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Jake Tapper Accused of Lying About Joe Biden’s Son’s Cancer Death

Biden’s spokesperson questioned Tapper’s “character and credibility.”

Joe Biden has hit back at claims in CNN host Jake Tapper’s book that the former president forgot his son had died of cancer.

Excerpts of the paperback edition of Original Sin, obtained by Politico’s Playbook, contain new allegations of memory lapses during Biden’s term in office.

At one point, according to the excerpt, “Biden seemed to think his son Beau, who died in 2015, was still alive and fighting cancer.”

A spokesperson for Biden denied the claim in a statement to Playbook: “There has not been a single day since May 30, 2015 when President Biden has not felt the pain of losing his son Beau to cancer, and for anyone to suggest otherwise, much less profit off that lie, speaks volumes about the character and credibility of the authors.”

In a statement to the Daily Beast, Penguin Random House, the book’s publisher, defended its claims.

“The people who covered up Biden’s inability to be a fully functioning president in 2023 and 2024 continue to confuse the issue,” the spokesperson said. “Democrats such as Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris have made it clear that those individuals bear their share of the blame for why Donald Trump is president right now. The authors have faith in their sources.”

Biden’s oldest son, Beau, a military veteran and twice-elected Delaware attorney general, died of brain cancer in 2015 at age 46.

The new excerpts also suggest that Joe Biden appeared to have forgotten that Senator Bob Dole had died, despite having delivered a lengthy eulogy for him three years previously.

Tapper and co-author Alex Thompson, an Axios political correspondent, have faced waves of criticism for releasing the book in May 2025, the same month as Biden’s cancer diagnosis announcement, as well as allegations that they haven’t placed allegations of Trump’s cognitive decline under the same scrutiny.

Thompson defended the release of the edition in a post on X.

“Read the book, make up your own mind. Paperback out Tuesday w/ new reporting,” he posted.

The new edition’s release coincides with that of Biden’s own memoir, Promise Me, America.

In a podcast appearance last year, Tapper defended himself against claims he has ignored Trump’s health problems.

“I understand that there are a lot of people out there who think I would take President Biden in a coma over Donald Trump. I understand,” said Tapper.

“I don’t know anybody who thinks that he could be president right now and all the way through 2029 in his current state,” Tapper added of Biden.

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The book claims that Biden’s aides shielded him from public scrutiny as his health deteriorated during his term in office.

According to the book, Biden once forgot the name of actor George Clooney, as well as those of key officials.

Biden’s disastrous performance in the 2024 presidential debate led him to step aside as a Democratic presidential candidate to make way for Kamala Harris, whom Trump defeated.

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Tom PorterBreaking News Reporter

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