Jake Tapper refutes Jill Biden's claim she feared for husband's health at CNN debate

CNN host Jake Tapper, who moderated the infamous 2024 debate that torpedoed then-President Joe Biden, said in a video posted Thursday that former first lady Jill Biden didn't act like there was anything wrong with her husband when she spoke with the moderators afterward.

Jill Biden said in a new interview that she was afraid her husband was having a stroke during the debate, but that stunning declaration has been met with fierce pushback across the political spectrum.

"I should also disclose that I was one of the two moderators at the debate, and after it, she and the president walked over to the table and they didn't act as if anything significant had just happened at all. They made polite chitchat. She certainly didn't act like somebody who was worried that her husband had just had a stroke," he said in a post to his Instagram.

Tapper co-moderated the debate in June 2024 alongside CNN's Dana Bash. The former first lady's shocking revelation that she was worried her husband had a stroke during the debate has faced scrutiny from Democrats and Republicans.

At the start of the short video posted by CNN, Tapper said, "Now, she tells us, that's the response from lots of Democrats to former first lady Jill Biden, finally admitting that her husband's debate performance in June 2024 was so bad that in her words, she at the time was frightened that President Biden was having a stroke on stage."

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Then-President Joe Biden and then-first lady Jill Biden speak with CNN anchors Jake Tapper and Dana Bash after the CNN presidential debate in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Jill Biden was asked by CBS about what she thought happened the night of the debate and said she felt frightened watching her husband, whose raspy voice, halting answers and blank looks set off a panic in his party.

"I don't know what happened," the former first lady replied. "I mean, when I watched it, I thought, ‘Oh my God, he's having a stroke,’ and it scared me to death."

But the night of the debate, the former first lady put on a far different face for the camera. She went with him to a local Waffle House and cheerfully greeted her husband on stage at the debate's after-party in front of a live audience, giving praise with such a low bar that it itself became a news story.

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"Joe, you did such a great job! You answered every question, you knew all the facts!" she cheered.

Then-President Joe Biden speaks with moderator Jake Tapper as former first lady Jill Biden looks on after a presidential debate with Donald Trump in Atlanta, Ga., on June 27, 2024. (Brian Snyder/Reuters)

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CNN host Abby Phillip slammed the Democratic Party after Jill Biden's admission on Wednesday.

Phillip said during her show, "I appreciate that we now get to see at least some version of a truth that she’s putting out there, because I think, yeah, the conversation should be had about the deceptiveness that was behind this. Like that’s the conversation that I think ought to be had."

"The autopsy that the Democrats did didn’t delve into that, but it should. What kind of political system covers that up? And makes it OK to lie to people about what everybody knows is true?" she asked.

Fox News Digital reached out to Joe Biden for comment. 

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Tapper co-authored a book, "Original Sin," that investigated the cover-up by President Biden's inner circle of his mental and cognitive decline in office that culminated in him being replaced on the 2024 Democratic ticket by Kamala Harris.