The News
Alex Thompson and Jake Tapper’s book, Original Sin, focuses much of its attention on media coverage of the 46th president, a topic of deep concern and obsession by the last administration and its top aides.
Semafor obtained a early copy of the book, which includes details about some previously unreported strategies the administration tried to keep the press from reporting on Biden’s age. The book notes, for example, that before The Wall Street Journal published its widely-read story questioning Biden’s mental acuity, a different national news outlet decided to scrap a story about Biden’s mental decline, following an angry call to the reporter from longtime top aide Steve Ricchetti. It also chronicles the ways in which the campaign selectively tried to get in front of potentially damaging information, detailing how the White House leaked special prosecutor Robert Hur’s report first to journalists the Biden team perceived as sympathetic, hoping to pre-spin the details.
Digital video was a constant struggle for the Biden campaign, Tapper and Thompson write. The campaign tried to manage by enlisting director Steven Spielberg and getting creative with editing, even going as far as to stage a never-aired made-for-video town hall. Staff frequently used slow motion videos of Biden so people didn’t realize how slowly he was walking in real-time, and used extra edits to clean up his stumbles.
The book also includes behind-the-scenes details about the leadup and fallout of the consequential presidential debate.
The book reports that Biden’s team was very late for the scheduled candidate walkthrough before the contest. While Trump arrived at 6 pm and walked through the debate studio around 7 pm, peppering CNN chief Mark Thompson with logistical questions, Biden’s team never made its initial walkthrough time, prompting panic from a CNN executive, who called Biden aide Anita Dunn inquiring about his whereabouts. Dunn told the network that he didn’t need to be there because he had done plenty of debates, but the CNN executive replied that the president should see the stage and the setup. Biden finally arrived and walked through the set between 8:32 and 8:50, 10 minutes before the debate was set to air.
Before the June debate, Vice President Kamala Harris’ team had booked her on four TV networks to spin Biden’s performance. But the fallout from the contest was so intense that some staff advised her to cancel the appearances. While she decided to do the interviews, she may have ended up regretting participating in an appearance with CNN’s Anderson Cooper: The anchor’s difficult questioning seemed to get under the then-VP’s skin. After the interview, the book’s authors’ report, Harris was visibly angry with Cooper, and told staff that “this motherf*cker doesn’t treat me like the damn vice president of the United States.”