Original Sin

President Biden's decline, its cover-up, and his disastrous choice to run again

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'Explosive' New York Times

Joe Biden his family and his senior aides were convinced that only he could beat Donald Trump in the 2024 Presidential Election. So convinced, in fact, that they lied to themselves, allies and the public about his condition and limitations – all but dooming the Democrats to defeat. Here, two of America’s best-respected political journalists take us behind closed doors to uncover the full, unsettling truth about Biden’s decline, and exposing the wider cover-up as an unprecedented deception of the public.

Hailed as an instant classic of political journalism, ?this is the book that revealed Biden's decision to run again as the original sin of his presidency - leading directly to Donald Trump’s return to power, and all that has come since.

Damning and well-documented.
TELEGRAPH

Original Sin is not really a 'campaign book'—its account of the 2024 election largely ends after Biden drops out—but its simple assessment of the race is more compelling than anything else I’ve read about it . . . Original Sin is rarely better than when Tapper and Thompson are writing—with extensive reporting and clear-eyed prose—about the disaster that Biden caused . . . Over the next year, dozens of books will appear that attempt to explain this election. It’s hard to imagine any doing better than that.
WASHINGTON POST

About Jake Tapper

Jake Tapper is the chief Washington correspondent for CNN. An Emmy Award-winning TV journalist and twice New York Times-bestselling novelist, in 2024 he chaired the Trump–Biden debate that began the unravelling of the president’s re-election campaign. A Dartmouth graduate and Philadelphia native, he lives in Washington, DC with his family.

Alex Thompson is a national political correspondent for Axios and a CNN contributor. Before that, he created Politico’s West Wing Playbook newsletter and worked at the New York Times and Vice News. A Harvard graduate, he lives in Washington, DC.

Details

Imprint: Penguin
Published: 22/01/2026
ISBN: 9781804958490
Length: 352 pages
Price: £10.99

All editions

Original Sin

President Biden's decline, its cover-up, and his disastrous choice to run again

Format:

Pre-order:

Damning and well-documented.

A scathing account of an elderly, egotistical president cocooned from reality seeking re-election in 2024 despite significant concerns about his declining health and cognitive abilities.

Tapper and Thompson's portrait of a decrepit American president is devastating... Original Sin succeeds because it has a strong thesis and an arresting narrative, delivered in made-for-TV episodes.

A fascinating insight... this book shines a blinding light on the extent to which Joe Biden was ageing rapidly, becoming tired and confused and patently unfit for a second term in office.

Explosive . . . Tapper and Thompson have done the [Democratic] party a favor. Some sort of reckoning is due for the disastrous missteps that that paved the way for Trump’s return.

[The] most significant book to date about Biden’s cognitive decline.

Superbly reported . . . Reads like a Shakespearean drama on steroids.

A damning, step-by-step account of how the people closest to a stubborn, ageing president enabled his quixotic resolve to run for a second term.

Original Sin is a comprehensively sourced autopsy of the agonised end to Biden’s 50-year career. It’s accusatory, indignant, righteous – and convincing.

About Jake Tapper

About Alex Thompson

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