CNN’s Jake Tapper Hires ‘PR Crisis Guru’ Following Backlash to Biden Book
CNN anchor Jake Tapper is in crisis mode.
According to The Daily Beast, Tapper has brought on crisis communications strategist Risa Heller to assist with the rollout of his controversial new book, which centers on the cover-up surrounding Joe Biden’s dementia.
However, the irony is that Tapper and his employer CNN were among the most complicit in these efforts to shield Biden from criticism.
The book, Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again, co-authored with journalist Alex Thompson, is set to be released on May 20.
It includes claims that Biden made bizarre and troubling remarks, such as telling allies he might be “put in a wheelchair” if he won a second term and allegedly forgetting who actor George Clooney was during a 2024 fundraiser.
Jake Tapper and his co-author have enlisted the help of a crisis PR expert as they navigate the rollout of their Biden book.https://t.co/gt8zAZPxOt
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) May 14, 2025
Facing mounting criticism over his own role in covering up Biden’s decline, Tapper has turned to Heller and her firm, Heller Co., to help manage the fallout and coordinate the launch.
Heller has handled damage control for some of the most high-profile scandals in recent years.
Among her clients include the disgraced former CNN president Jeff Zucker, who resigned over an undisclosed romantic relationship with a colleague, and former congressman Anthony Weiner, whose career was ended for sexting a minor.
Tapper insisted that Heller’s involvement was simply to ensure “the rollout [was] as smart as possible,” downplaying her role as merely advisory.
Much of the criticism directed at Tapper stems from his prior dismissal of the very claims he now promotes.
For years, conservative voices were ridiculed by Tapper and others for raising concerns about Biden’s mental state.
In October 2020, Tapper attacked President Trump’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump over comments she made about his mental decline.
“I think you were mocking his stutter and I think you have absolutely no standing to diagnose somebody’s cognitive decline,” he said at the time.
“I would think somebody in the Trump family would be more sensitive to people who do not have medical licenses diagnosing politicians from afar.”
On October 18th, 2020 Lara Trump suggested that Biden was showing signs of cognitive decline. Jake Tapper flipped out on her. How dare she diagnose Joe Biden!
Nine days later Jake Tapper had Mary Trump on for a 10 min segment to discuss Donald Trump's mental illness and decline. pic.twitter.com/9ZZcCuHrJ8
— MAZE (@mazemoore) May 13, 2025
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