Former President Joe Biden's Cabinet meetings were overly "scripted," CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Axios political correspondent Alex Thompson reveal in their book, "Original Sin," an outline of Biden's cognitive decline and his administration's alleged cover-up.
"The Cabinet meetings were terrible and at times uncomfortable - and they were from the beginning," a Cabinet member told the authors. "I don't recall a great Cabinet meeting in terms of his presence. They were so scripted."
The White House's speechwriters shortened Biden's remarks and shrank his vocabulary to adapt to "Biden's diminished capabilities," according to Tapper and Thompson. During his one-term presidency, Biden's aides told the journalists that he became increasingly reliant on teleprompters and note cards, even for private conversations and in Cabinet meetings.
Four Cabinet members who spoke with Tapper and Thompson described Biden's meetings as overly scripted. One Cabinet secretary said he hated "the scripts" for Cabinet meetings, while another doubted in 2022 that he could run for re-election.
CREDIBILITY CRISIS: WHITE HOUSE REPORTERS SPEAK OUT ON WHETHER BIDEN'S MENTAL DECLINE WAS DELIBERATELY HIDDEN
"You want people to tell you the truth and have a real dialogue, and those meetings were not that," a Cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson.
NEW BOOK REVEALS BIDEN'S INNER CIRCLE WORRIED ABOUT HIS AGE YEARS BEFORE BOTCHED DEBATE PERFORMANCE
However, as Biden's bad speeches and reliance on note cards became common practice, a speechwriter told Tapper and Thompson that over time, "they just got used to it."
The story behind closed doors was inconsistent with the White House's narrative, according to "Original Sin."
In January 2024, the White House convened a meeting with Biden, his national security advisers and congressional leadership to urge Congress to continue financially supporting Ukraine against Russia's invasion.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries described Biden as "incredibly strong, forceful, and decisive," and the official White House readout said Biden was "clear" about protecting national security and "underscored the importance of Congress ensuring Ukraine has the resources it needs."
However, a House Democrat who attended the meeting said, "That's not true," Tapper and Thompson wrote. A second House Democrat described the meeting as a "disaster," and a "s---show."
"For the first twenty minutes of the meeting, the president listlessly read bullet points out of a binder. For many at the table, he was difficult to hear. He stumbled over words; he started sentences and then stopped abruptly; he trailed off," Tapper and Thompson said.
A House Democrat said he was "not capable of making a strong, forceful argument," and deferred to National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan and National Intelligence Director Avril Haines to answer questions, as outlined in "Original Sin."
Tapper and Thompson described a concerning event for senior administration officials on the anniversary of the Supreme Court's Roe v. Wade decision. After reading a "weak, slurry" speech from a teleprompter, Biden confused Alabama with Texas and then his own Cabinet members, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas and Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra.
"I blame his inner circle, and I blame him," an official who found the event "crazy" told the authors a year later.
As Cabinet members observed concerning practices that accompanied Biden's day-to-day meetings, Tapper and Thompson described how the president's circle grew smaller and smaller in 2023 and 2024.
"Access dropped off considerably in 2024, and I didn't interact with him as much," a Cabinet secretary told the authors. "I didn't get an explanation."
The Cabinet secretary said they briefed senior White House aides who would then communicate the information to the president themselves. They questioned if it was the White House's way of filtering information to shape his decisions.
"I think the people around him had their own agenda, and they didn't want more people around him," another Cabinet member told Tapper and Thompson.
The Cabinet members who spoke to Tapper and Thompson described a "weird period" when they didn't have any access to Biden for months between 2023 and 2024. They described it as a "deliberate strategy by the White House to have him meet with as few people as necessary." When they did see him, they said they were shocked at how "disoriented" and "out of it" he seemed, mumbling and "not making much sense."
Fox News Digital has written extensively dating back to the 2020 presidential campaign about Biden's cognitive decline and his inner circle's alleged role in covering it up.
A Biden spokesperson did not immediately respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.
