One of the issues being brought to light this week with the impending release of the Jake Tapper-Alex Thompson book "Original Sin" is the press in general – and the authors in particular – working to rewrite their own history. The excuse-making, deflections, and outright gaslighting about how they executed their duties (or refused to) has been legion. Now some are in the stage of denying prior denials.
What is staggering is how these alleged merchants in the facts behave as if their own provable track records are not recorded and researchable. Tapper, for one example, is lauding two Wall Street Journal reporters for their brave reporting on Biden when others were covering for him. Jake needs us to avoid seeing how he was on the critical side with the Democrats, giving all manner of doubt to their report. Then there is Jonathan Martin of Politico.
An example of how the desperation from journalists is trapping themselves came about in an unrelated thread on Xitter. Martin linked to a New York Times piece on the Pope’s brother, and a user commented how the media would be better off focusing on the swelling scandal of the press covering up Biden’s condition. Martin gave a flippant denial of his involvement.
wrong guy
— Jonathan Martin (@jmart) May 15, 2025
This tepid deflection caught my attention. Being the black hat villain in the media that I am, I recall vividly how last year, in the days of the debate debacle aftermath, many journalists attempted to rework their knowledge and involvement with the Biden coverage. Among them was Chuck Todd, who at the time had a podcast hosted by NBC News. For one post-debate episode he had on Martin, and the two were presenting the case of Joe Biden’s condition as something that had been widely known in political circles.
It is unclear if this was intended to be dismissive of the whole development by downplaying it as a smaller issue, but the duo seemed unaware of how this reflected upon them. They knew he was diminished, and never reported on it?! That was a bad look, so I responded to Martin to remind him he had been among those who evaded covering Biden’s condition, and he refuted the claim. He literally tried to deny his denial, in other words.
Nope, listen to it again.
— Jonathan Martin (@jmart) May 15, 2025
Now, I am not sure if Martin truly had no recollection of this, or if he was operating from a position of confidence that it could not be easily researched. Since that time, Todd left NBC and has struck out on his own. He still operates the cleverly-titled “Toddcast,” but his prior shows with the network are not as readily available. So maybe Martin was comfortable that his deniability would hold up.
The problem for him is that I had covered that very July episode in my daily media column here at Townhall. While that link from the column is now directed to only his newer episodes, we did provide a transcript of the crucial portion of that episode. (This podcast episode can still be heard over at NBC News, find the player deeper in the linked article.) It is rather damning for Martin’s denial.
I listened to it plenty -- I covered your conversation with @ChuckTodd.
— Brad Slager: CNN+ Lifetime Subscriber (@MartiniShark) May 15, 2025
You BOTH admitted it had been known, for years, in Washington and with Journalists. This was last summer.
"It was an open secret" is what you both agreed was the case.
Not at all sure how you can deny this. https://t.co/7U5EzWr4Lx pic.twitter.com/5hBknVqRUl
Their conversation at the time was one where all of this was discussed in a remarkably casual fashion, as if it was not a deeply significant development, as well as an indictment of their own journalistic sloth. Now today, Martin is claiming he said no such thing and is not accountable for his own words.
This represents both the condition of many outlets and journalists today, and it displays the curious hubris seen from them. They still operate as if these types of comments and their past reports are not reality and not presentable. We were there, and we saw, heard, and read what they delivered.
They are hoping to elide that reality today. Unfortunately for them, this is a new era, and there is now accountability for their past.
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