CNN’s Jake Tapper came clean and admitted that Trump was right and Joe Biden was wrong about Hunter Biden’s shady dealings in China.
TAPPER: Let’s turn to the Biden administration because Jeff you have some new reporting that President Biden might have a blind spot, according to people around him when it comes to his son Hunter Biden’s legal troubles and concerns about how this might impact his desire to be reelected. What do you got? What are you hearing?
ZELENY: Well, look, this is something that the President was hoping to put behind him. They were hoping that the plea agreement would go through, et cetera. Now there is very likely to be a trial unfolding at the same time as a presidential campaign. Even worse, a second special counsel’s investigation on top of the one that’s already investigating the President for classified documents.
So the point talking to a bunch of advisors is that this is something that is not discussed around the President in his orbit because they do not think voters care about it.
They think voters care about the economy, other matters. They’re probably right about that. However, we know that this is going to be a central piece of the Republican debate and Republican talking points next week and beyond, the Hunter Biden situation.
So what do swing voters think of Hunter Biden? As of now, they’ve never sort of drawn a correlation or blamed the President for his son’s conduct. They feel sympathy for him, et cetera.
But is there a blind spot directly around him and the campaign by not talking about this? It’s verboten. You can’t talk about Hunter Biden. We’ll see.
This is definitely going to be a topic on the debate stage this week.
TAPPER: Yes. And Kristen, Glenn Kessler from “The Washington Post” had a fact check about Joe Biden from earlier this month noting that Hunter Biden admitted in court in July that he was, in fact, paid substantial sums from Chinese companies.
Kessler wrote, Hunter Biden reported nearly $2.4 million income in 2017 and 2.2 million income in 2018, most of which came from Chinese or Ukrainian interests.
But this — and this directly goes against what Joe Biden said in the debate in 2020 with Donald Trump. Take a listen. (plays video)
JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: My son has not made money in terms of this thing about what are you talking about, what are you talking about, China.
(CROSSTALK)
DONALD TRUMP (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: He made a fortune in Ukraine, in China, in Moscow BIDEN: That is simply not true.
TRUMP: — and various other places.
TAPPER: So this is from two different debates. But I mean, Trump was right. I mean, he did make a fortune from China, and Joe Biden was wrong. I don’t know that he was lying about it. He might not have been told by Hunter. But this blind spot is a problem.
ANDERSON: It’s a problem, one, because Republicans aren’t going to let it go, that’s for sure. But also these problems are continuing through the legal system.
It’s not as though this is something that’s been settled in other jurisdictions, and Republicans are just harping on it. It is an ongoing thing in our courts. It’s not going anywhere.
TAPPER: This is a blind spot. Does it concern you as a Democrat?
LEVIN: Well, I think dads sometimes and parents sometimes have blind spots about their kids, for sure, and the President may be no exception.
But nothing has tied the President to any of Hunter Biden’s dealings. There’s no whiff of him being involved or him being implicated in it. And it’s, you know, I think it’s not something the voters care a lot about.
TAPPER: All right, my thanks to the panel. Thanks once again.
NEW: CNN host Jake Tapper admits “Trump was right” about Hunter Biden’s overseas business dealings and “Biden was wrong.”
You don’t say… Maybe Trump was also right to ask Zelensky about Biden family corruption.
Despite being reluctant to admit Trump was right, Tapper tried… pic.twitter.com/iwL1nkQpfX
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) August 18, 2023