Jon Stewart Rips CNN For Selling Book About Biden ‘Cover-Up’ News They Withheld

It’s a question that’s been buzzing.

Should news organizations hold onto information for a book instead of reporting it immediately?

That’s exactly what sparked a sharp reaction recently.

Late-night host Jon Stewart took aim at CNN following reports surrounding a new book focused on the Biden administration.

The book, titled Original Sin, co-authored by CNN anchor Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, delves into sensitive topics concerning President Biden’s time in office.

Stewart highlighted promotions for the book on CNN, specifically focusing on anchor Jake Tapper discussing findings within its pages.

He played clips where Tapper teased information, including one where the anchor stated, “You will not believe what we found out.”

“Don’t news people have to tell you what they know when they find it out?” Stewart asked on The Daily Show. “Isn’t that the difference between news and a secret?”

He suggested that withholding what could be considered significant news for a future book release felt counterintuitive to the role of journalism.

“That’s why I watch breaking news,” he quipped, referencing the idea that news should be immediate when discovered.

Adding a layer of complexity to the timing, Stewart noted that CNN was promoting the book around the same period reports confirmed President Biden’s personal team diagnosed him with “aggressive” prostate cancer.

“Doing the story seems almost disrespectful,” Stewart commented, acknowledging the difficult personal news for the President.

He then played a clip quoting a CNN staffer who reportedly felt the week was “already going to be a tough week, and this makes it much harder.”

This staffer’s quote was interpreted as a reference to the book’s publication coinciding with potentially difficult news cycles.

Stewart responded with sarcasm.

“It’s so hard, it’s such a difficult time,” he mocked, before adding a mock discount code for the book: “And yet, if you act now, you use the code ‘backslash tap that book’, it’s 20% off.”

Putting the jokes aside for a moment, Stewart underscored his main point.

“How fucking weird it is that the news is selling you a book about news they should have told you was news a year ago, for free,” he stated bluntly.

The book reportedly touches on concerns about Biden’s mental decline while in office.

Stewart addressed the notion of this being a significant “cover-up.”

He argued that if there was a “Democratic cover-up” regarding Biden’s condition, it wasn’t particularly effective.

“The thing is though, it was a terrible cover-up, because we all fucking knew,” Stewart claimed.

He cited public opinion polls and figures like Dean Phillips mounting a primary challenge as evidence that concerns about Biden’s age and fitness were already widely known and discussed by the public.

“There was no cover-up – poll after poll showed vast majorities of the public thought Biden was too old and too out of it to run again,” he added. “He along with most of the public knew it was a bad idea for Biden to run. We knew it.”

Stewart concluded his segment by emphasizing his core critique:

“And that’s what’s so hilarious about politicians. The cover-up doesn’t work when everyone knows you’re lying.”

His comments sparked considerable discussion online regarding journalistic practices and the intersection of news reporting and book publishing.