Jake Tapper, co-author of “Original Sin,” talked to “Washington Week” host Jeffrey Goldberg about when he realized he was being lied to by the Biden White House.

JEFFREY GOLDBERG: So, is this when you realized that the White House was lying to the public, lying to the media about Joe Biden’s condition, or was this — I’m wondering how you moved cognitively through the stages here. Did you immediately think to yourself, oh my God, I’ve been lied to, or, wow, he’s having a really bad night? JAKE TAPPER, CO-AUTHOR, ORIGIN SIN: I thought that they had been misrepresenting his acuity for a little bit then at that point, like — and our reporting suggests that he really started to deteriorate in the summer and fall of 2023. I didn’t see him all that often and I didn’t know how bad it was, but it seemed odd in retrospect. I mean, I asked people about it and I heard what I’m sure you heard, what I’m sure Alex heard, which is, he’s fine, he’s fine, he’s fine. He’s 81, of course, he’s elderly, but he’s great. You know, his decision-making is solid, he’s great in meanings, blah, blah, blah. And I didn’t believe them, but I didn’t have any evidence to report that they were lying. When he came out and he could not deliver what any politician should be able to do, a 90-minute debate, discussing why you should be elected — JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Straightforward questions. JAKE TAPPER: Yes, and, I mean, some of the questions were, honestly, issues that he should have wanted to talk about and should have been able to talk about brilliantly. JEFFREY GOLDBERG: Yes. JAKE TAPPER: And that’s when I realized it wasn’t even about, oh my God, I’ve been lied to. It was, I had the same thought that some Democrats told us, Democrats who worked for Biden told us they had that during that debate, which was, oh my God, who’s running the country?

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