WSJ report on Bidens slipping health was smeared by media

Nearly a year before books about Joe Biden’s cognitive decline made headlines, The Wall Street Journal was viciously attacked for its own bombshell reporting at a time when very few in the legacy media dared to broach the subject. In early June 2024, the Journal published a story titled, “Behind Closed Doors, Biden Shows Signs of Slipping,” a months-long investigation by reporters Annie Linskey and Siobhan Hughes involving more than 45 sources who were either directly involved or briefed on meetings with Biden, who they said “appears slower now, someone who has both good moments and bad ones.” The report, which dropped just weeks before Biden’s disastrous debate performance, was swiftly met with disdain and indignation, not just by the Biden White House, but by its allies in the media as well. Jake Tapper, the CNN anchor who co-authored “Original Sin,” the new Biden bombshell book, framed his coverage of the Journal’s report at the time on the White House’s aggressive response to the “false claims” made by the paper and repeatedly told viewers the report was “mostly based on observations of Republicans.” He had on top Biden surrogate Sen.

Chris Coons, D-Del., who defended the president and attempted to discredit the reporting as agenda-driven. It wasn’t until after the debate (which Tapper notably co-moderated) that he invited the two Wall Street Journal reporters who authored the report to discuss it on his program. Several CNN anchors stressed that the Journal’s story heavily relied on Republican criticism of Biden and called out former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy, who gave the only on-the-record statement, for appearing to flip-flop on Biden’s sharpness in previous comments, something that was later explained as a tactical PR move at the time for McCarthy to bolster cooperation with the Biden White House. CNN’s Boris Sanchez grilled Hughes over Democratic allegations that her story was “slanted,” a question tha...