Hunter Biden Criticizes CNN’s Jake Tapper in Sharp Public Rebuke

Hunter Biden delivered a blistering attack on CNN anchor Jake Tapper during a Wednesday appearance on Don Lemon’s YouTube show, calling him a “complete and utter” [expletive] and saying he is “full of [expletive].” Biden, 56, made the comments after briefly noting that he still has “friends” at CNN. When Lemon, 60, quickly asked whether Tapper was among them, Biden answered, “No,” before adding that he had known Tapper “forever.” Lemon then brought up Tapper’s 2025 book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” which had already sparked a public feud between the two men during its rollout. After pausing, sighing and laughing, Biden said: “I think that, um, Jake is a, um, a complete and utter, uh, [expletive].” Lemon, who worked alongside Tapper at CNN for 17 years, initially stayed silent as Biden continued, calling Tapper “a really poor journalist” and saying he did not believe he was “a very decent human being.” Biden added that he did not like Tapper “as a person,” concluding, “That’s the way I feel about Jake.”

Biden characterized his feelings toward Tapper as a “real personal grievance” and doubled down moments later. “I think he’s full of [expletive] [expletive]. That’s what I think,” he said. Lemon, smiling by then, asked him to clarify: “You think Jake Tapper’s full of [expletive]?” Biden laughed and replied, “I think he’s the Brick Tamland of his generation, yeah,” referring to the dim-witted character from the 2004 comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy.” Lemon reminded him that Tapper was a former colleague, saying, “I know Jake.” Biden responded, “I know you do. Yeah,” before adding, “I don’t know what you think of Jake, but I do know this.”

Biden then pointed to Tapper’s past remarks about him and his family. “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. He made clear he was not interested in offering the kind of measured public response he suggested others might expect. “The idea that I would tell you — and be full of [expletive] 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,” Biden said. “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,” Biden continued. “And so — that’s the way I feel about Jake… I have a real personal grievance with him.” Lemon pressed further, asking what Biden would say directly to Tapper. Biden, laughing, cut him off: “I’d say exactly what I just said.” The disbarred former attorney then turned toward the camera and addressed the CNN anchor head-on. “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.” By that point, both Biden and Lemon were laughing.

The interview eventually moved on, but the exchange added another chapter to Biden’s increasingly public clash with Tapper. The two sparred last year after Tapper, while promoting his book, suggested that Hunter Biden had functioned “almost like a chief of staff” to his father. The book examined then-President Joe Biden’s initial push for a second White House term and allegations that his cognitive decline had been concealed. In a rare July 2025 interview with former Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison, Hunter Biden pushed back sharply. “You think Jake Tapper’s telling the truth when he says that I was the acting chief of staff of the president’s?” he asked.

“I was in that White House 12 days over the course of the last two years of the administration,” Hunter Biden said at the time. “Clearly, because I had other things going on, OK?” Weeks earlier, Tapper had told Katie Couric, “I think Hunter was driving the decision-making for the family in a way that people — he was almost like a chief of staff.” When Couric asked whether he considered the level of Hunter Biden’s involvement in the presidency “bizarre,” Tapper replied that it was, adding that he viewed Hunter as “probably, demonstrably unethical, sleazy and prone to horrible decisions.” Tapper cited Hunter Biden’s relationship with Hallie Biden, the widow of his late brother Beau Biden, and also alluded to his crack cocaine addiction. “Beau was a great, upstanding guy,” Tapper said, describing the former Delaware attorney general’s 2015 death from cancer as “a real loss for the country.” He then added, “But Hunter’s not that.”

That same month, Tapper, citing sources, reported that the collapse of Hunter Biden’s 2023 plea deal in his federal gun case had significantly worsened the mental state of his then-80-year-old father. A day later, Hunter Biden accused Tapper in an interview with Breaker of repeatedly calling him while Beau Biden was dying at Walter Reed Hospital. Biden said he eventually answered one of those calls and told Tapper, “Go [expletive] yourself, Jake.” Tapper denied the account through a spokesperson, calling it “a patently false lie.” The spokesperson said “the idea that Jake could do something so heartless… completely defies logic,” and noted that Tapper had interviewed Joe Biden in 2022, presenting that sit-down as evidence that he remained in the administration’s good graces. The representative also pointed out that Tapper had been promoting his book in interviews with figures including Couric and Megyn Kelly.

Tapper’s spokesperson also referenced a 2020 interview the CNN anchor conducted with Joe Biden during his presidential campaign. “I did ask Joe Biden to be transparent about his health records in an interview in 2020,” Tapper told Kelly during their conversation. “But then he wasn’t,” the former Fox News host interjected as Tapper discussed the book. “No, he wasn’t transparent at all,” Tapper acknowledged. Former President Biden ultimately ended his 2024 campaign against Donald Trump after a disastrous debate performance 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.