CNN host Jake Tapper ripped Joe Biden for skipping the Sunday talk show circuit throughout the primary race.
During a Sunday interview with Pete Buttigieg on State of the Union, Tapper, 50, thanked the former South Bend, Indiana, mayor for appearing on the show several times during the primary election and explained that he appreciates his willingness to take questions on-air while Biden refused to appear on the show.
“I want to note, we appreciate you coming in and taking our questions. Vice President Biden has yet to do a Sunday show interview,” Tapper said. “You have done, I can’t even count how many times you’ve agreed to do interviews. Thank you for taking our questions.”
The Sunday morning talk shows have been a staple of several campaigns. This weekend, 2020 candidates Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, Andrew Yang, and Pete Buttigieg all made their cases for primary voters on various networks ahead of Monday’s caucuses in Iowa. Other top-tier candidates, such as Sens. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Bernie Sanders of Vermont, have also appeared on Tapper’s show over the past several months.
Biden, 77, has the nationwide lead, according to RealClearPolitics polling averages, but he has fallen behind Sanders, 78, in Iowa and New Hampshire. The former vice president could struggle if he loses momentum after the early state primaries and caucuses because Sanders and Buttigieg both raised more money than he did in the final quarter of 2019.
