Hunter Biden sharply criticized CNN anchor Jake Tapper on Wednesday, branding him a “complete and utter, uh, a**hole” and saying he is “full of sh*t.”
Biden, 56, delivered the blunt assessment during a candid appearance on Don Lemon’s YouTube program.
The exchange began when the former first son briefly noted that he still had “friends” at CNN. Lemon, appearing curious, quickly asked whether Tapper was among them.
“No,” Biden answered almost instantly, before adding: “Well, I knew Jake forever.”
Lemon, 60, then pressed Biden for his view of Tapper’s 2025 book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”
Biden and Tapper had already traded public shots during the promotion of the book, which scrutinized President Joe Biden’s condition and decision to seek another term.
“Look, here’s what I’d like to say about that,” Biden said, sighing before laughing. “I think that, um, Jake is a, um, a complete and utter, uh, a**hole.”
Lemon, who worked alongside Tapper at CNN for 17 years, did not immediately respond to the remark.
The former president’s son made the remarks during an appearance on Don Lemon’s web show on Tuesday
He called out Tapper directly, roughly a year after the two traded barbs over the latter’s book about Biden’s father and the alleged cover-up of his cognitive decline
Biden continued: ‘I think that he is, um, a really poor journalist. And beyond that, I don’t think he’s a very decent human being.’
He then proclaimed that he didn’t ‘like’ Tapper ‘as a person.’
‘And so – that’s the way I feel about Jake.’ Biden described the dynamic as a ‘real personal grievance.’
‘I think he’s full of f*cking sh*t. That’s what I think,’ he added.
Lemon, now smiling, sought confirmation.
‘You think Jake Tapper’s full of sh*t?’ he asked.
‘I think he’s the Brick Tamland of his generation, yeah,’ Biden laughed, referencing a hapless character from 2004’s Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.
A still grinning Lemon pointed out: ‘I know Jake. He’s a former colleague.’
‘No,’ Biden snapped after Lemon asked if the two were friends. A minutes-long rant ensued
‘I think that he is, um, a really poor journalist. And beyond that, I don’t think he’s a very decent human being,’ Biden said of the longtime CNN star
‘I know you do. Yeah,’ Biden shot back. ‘I don’t know what you think of Jake, but I do know this.
‘What Jake espoused and has continued, and the way that he has spoken about me, the way he has spoken about my mother, the way that he has spoken about my father…’ he said, trailing off.
‘The idea that I would tell you – and be full of sh*t like everybody else usually is, and say, “Well, you know, I’d like to respect Jake’s long career in journalism and, you know, he’s done good things before” – you know what? I don’t have to say that.
‘I’m not running for anything. I’m certainly not running for class president. I’m not running to be the most popular man, you know, on TV.
‘And so – that’s the way I feel about Jake… I have a real personal grievance with him,’ Biden said.
Lemon prodded his guest for more.
‘What would you say to him? If you-‘
A laughing Hunter interrupted: ‘I’d say exactly what I just said.’
The disbarred former attorney then turned to the camera to alleviate any doubts.
‘What Jake espoused and has continued, and the way that he has spoken about me, the way he has spoken about my mother, the way that he has spoken about my father…’ he said at a point
Lemon offered no initial reaction, before doubling over in laughter. He and Tapper worked together for 17 years
‘Jake. I do not like you. I don’t like you at all. And I have a whole host of reasons why. And that’s final. There you go. I’m looking directly into the camera.’
Both men were laughing by this point. The conversation moved on from there.
Hunter had it out with Tapper last year after the CNN anchor suggested while promoting his book that Hunter served ‘almost like a chief of staff’ to his father.
The book chronicled then-President Biden’s initial pursuit of a second White House term and the alleged cover-up of his cognitive decline.
‘You think Jake Tapper’s telling the truth when he says that I was the acting chief of staff of the president’s?’ the younger Biden told former DNC Chair Jaime Harrison in a rare July 2025 interview.
‘I was in that White House 12 days over the course of the last two years of the administration. Clearly, because I had other things going on, OK?’
‘I think Hunter was driving the decision-making for the family in a way that people — he was almost like a chief of staff,’ Tapper told Katie Couric weeks before.
Couric asked Tapper if he thought the extent of Hunter Biden’s involvement with the presidency was ‘bizarre.’
While promoting his book ‘Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again’, Tapper called the Biden scion ‘sleazy’ and claimed he held an important part in his father’s administration
‘It’s bizarre, because I think he is provably, demonstrably unethical, sleazy and prone to horrible decisions,’ Tapper said of the purported presidential arrangement, which the younger Biden immediately denied
‘It’s bizarre, because I think he is probably, demonstrably unethical, sleazy and prone to horrible decisions,’ the CNN anchor answered, pointing out how Biden had a relationship with his late brother Beau’s widow, Hallie. He also alluded to his addiction to crack cocaine.
‘Beau was a great, upstanding guy,’ Tapper said, calling the Delaware Attorney General’s 2015 cancer death ‘a real loss for the country.’
‘But Hunter’s not that,’ he added.
That same month, citing sources, Tapper declared the collapse of a plea deal surrounding the Biden scion’s federal gun charges in 2023 dramatically worsened his then-80-year-old father’s mental state.
A day later, in a bombshell interview with Breaker, Biden accused Tapper of heartlessly hounding him with calls as his elder brother was dying at Walter Reed Hospital.
‘Go **k yourself, Jake,’ Biden allegedly said after picking up one of those phone calls, he told the New York-based newsletter.
The account caused Tapper to issue his own statement dismissing Hunter’s story as ‘a patently false lie.’
Tapper moderated Biden’s disastrous 2024 debate against Donald Trump
Tapper defended him and other journalists regarding their coverage of Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, claiming he did not participate in a deliberate cover-up
‘The idea that Jake could do something so heartless… completely defies logic,’ a spokesperson said.
The rep added how Tapper – who sat down with figures like Couric and Megyn Kelly the day before to promote his book – scored a sit-down interview with Biden in 2022, painting it as proof he was in the administration’s good graces.
The spokesperson also pointed to an interview Tapper conducted with Biden when he was running for president, back in 2020.
‘I did ask Joe Biden to be transparent about his health records in an interview in 2020,’ Tapper told Kelly during their interview.
‘But then he wasn’t,’ the former Fox host interrupted, as Tapper tried to shill his book.
‘No, he wasn’t transparent at all,’ Tapper admitted at the time.
Former President Biden dropped out of the 2024 race against Donald Trump following a disastrous debate in Atlanta, Georgia. The debate was moderated by Tapper and Dana Bash.
Tapper defended himself and other journalists regarding their coverage of Joe Biden’s cognitive abilities, claiming he did not participate in a deliberate cover-up, but that ‘we were just lied to over and over again.’
When reached for comment, a CNN spokesperson pushed back on Biden’s remarks.
‘Jake Tapper is a respected journalist and his work speaks for itself. For decades, he has challenged and scrutinized those in power, regardless of party, ideology, or title. That’s the job, and he’s done it exceptionally well,’ they said in a statement.
‘These comments are frankly ridiculous and shouldn’t warrant news coverage.’
Tapper has worked at the network for 13 years.
