CNN’s Tapper: Trump ‘Hiding’ from Press the ‘Way He Used to Make Fun’ of Biden in the Basement

CNN anchor Jake Tapper said Wednesday on his show “The Lead” that President Donald Trump is “hiding” the “way he used to make fun of” President-elect Joe Biden for “hiding in his basement” during the 2020 presidential campaign.

Tapper said, “Kaitlin, it’s really remarkable how much President Trump has not been talking to the likes of you, to reporters. He’s done a couple of interviews on his favorite channel, but beyond that, he’s really hiding almost the way he used to make fun of Joe Biden hiding in his basement. He’s really inaccessible. What do you make of it all? He’s really inaccessible. what do you make of it all?”

White House correspondent Kaitlin Collins said, “It’s incredibly rare for us not to hear from the president the way he has been acting over the last several weeks, and not opening up the cabinet meeting today really said it all because that is something typically the president always asked for reporters to come in. I can only think of one cabinet meeting that happened last year where reporters were not brought into the room. He brought us in in May when they had one. So it really is indicative of this larger sense you’re seeing from the president where he just doesn’t want to speak to reporters.”

She added, “It also seems to be filtering into his personal life and what he typically does on the holidays. Remember on Thanksgiving he canceled a trip to Mar-a-Lago? I was told because he wanted to get a lot of things done. Right now, there is internal confusion as to whether he’s going at all over Christmas break. Some senior staffers have said they don’t think he’s going to be making that trip. That is often the opportunity where the president goes golfing. He walks around and bumps elbows with guests in the dining room at Mar-a-Lago. It’s one of his favorite activities. You’re just not seeing the normal behavior you see from Donald Trump, and I think all of that has to do with the fact that he’s been entirely consumed by this election loss.”

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