CNN host Jake Tapper ripped President Biden on Sunday for what he described as an “absurd” claim during a recent interview with reporters that Vice President Kamala Harris had beaten President-elect Donald Trump.
“Okay, first of all, do I think Kamala was going to beat Trump? She ran against him, and she lost, so that makes no sense,” Tapper said during “State of the Union.”
Biden told reporters on Friday that his decision to withdraw was about uniting the party, saying, “And I think Kamala could have beaten Trump, she would have beaten Trump,” according to Mediaite. Biden has said many times that he believes he would have won the general election against Trump.
“I think she was trying to back off after she spent the last few months, like, denying him,” the CNN host added.
CNN’s Jake Tapper called out President Biden on Sunday for saying that Kamala Harris should have beaten Trump in the election. (Screenshot/CNN)
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSMAN WHO OPPOSED BIDEN CHOOSING ‘GIVING TO THE BODY’ DEFENDS HIS DECISION: ‘TO BE HEARING’.
Former Biden communications aide Kate Bedingfield appeared to defend the president and said he may be trying to give Harris “credit” for running a strong campaign.
“I think if I could have beaten Trump, I would have beaten Trump. And I think Kamala could have beaten Trump, she could have beaten Trump. It wasn’t just – I thought it was important to bring the team together. And when the team was worried about whether I would be able to move or not, I thought, or I thought I could win again, I saw it’s better to bring the team together,” Biden told reporters on Friday.
Bedingfield said Tapper’s analysis was wrong and said, “I think what he was trying to do there was acknowledge that he ran a strong race, that he was proud of himself. That’s what he was saying.”
President Joe Biden speaks at a reception for new Democratic members of Congress in the State Dining Room of the White House, Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025, Washington. (AP Photo/Manuel Balce Ceneta)
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When asked in a USA Today interview if he would have won if he hadn’t dropped out on July 21, Biden responded, “It’s presumptuous to say that, but I think yes.” USA Today summarized that he went on to “add that he based that opinion on the poll he had reviewed.”
CNN polling chief Harry Enten said Biden’s claims are nonsense.
“Based on polling data, I classify Biden’s statement that he could have beaten Trump as ‘pure bullshit,'” Enten wrote in a Wednesday X post. “Biden was following Trump when he left office. Biden never won in 2024. And no president has ever been as unpopular as Biden has ever been.”
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“Why do I say his statement is just stupid that he would have won the 2024 election if he had stayed in the race? Look here,” added Enten.
He then showed polling numbers from when Biden dropped out of the race, especially in the Great Lakes counties, where there was “Donald Trump ahead of all three.”
Fox News’ Alexander Hall contributed to this report.
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