The former chair of the Democratic National Committee is disputing a claim laid out in a new book on former President Joe Biden's cognitive decline and cover-up by CNN's Jake Tapper and Axios' Alex Thompson.
Much of Biden's re-election campaign was dominated by speculation about his fitness to run again, culminating in a disastrous presidential debate in which he struggled to speak clearly. He ultimately exited the race in favor of his running mate, then-Vice President Kamala Harris.
The book, "Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again," includes several claims that the former president's struggles were more severe behind the scene than the public knew, including that he repeatedly failed to recognize George Clooney at a key fundraiser, that his aides wondered whether they'd have to put him in a wheelchair if he won a second term, and that even many of his Cabinet secretaries were excluded from access to the president as his condition worsened.
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But Harrison took issue with another claim from the book, which, according to the New York Post, stated that “Democratic National Committee chairman Jaime Harrison later that fall met Biden at a Congressional Black Caucus event and the president kept shaking his hand without appearing to recognize him.”
"Better check my cognitive abilities as well because I sure as hell don’t remember this," wrote Harrison on X.
Tapper and Thompson's book has come under fire from both sides of the aisle. On one hand, more liberal-leaning pundits and analysts trashed the book as overwrought and exaggerated, particularly in light of the visible mental deficiencies of sitting President Donald Trump. On the other hand, Trump supporters have asserted with little evidence that Tapper and Thompson were sitting on this information during the campaign itself to shield Biden from scrutiny.
As the two reporters feel the political pressure over their book, they have reportedly hired a crisis PR expert to protect their reputations.