George Stephanopoulos slammed for downplaying Joe Biden’s decline despite calling it ‘heartbreaking’

WASHINGTON, DC: Conservatives went scorched earth on ABC’s golden boy George Stephanopoulos, who quietly said the part out loud about former President Joe Biden - and then tried to walk it back.

After President Biden’s brutal debate flop on June 27 of last year, the White House kicked into full-blown crisis mode. The damage control tour included a sit-down with Stephanopoulos, the polished ABC News anchor and former Clinton White House aide who’s been in the game long enough to know when the wheels are coming off.

The interview took place on July 5 in Madison, Wisconsin, a battleground state where Biden desperately needed a win. But instead of a hard-hitting exchange, it was more like grandson talking to grandpa.

“Stephanopoulos questioned the president gently, like a grandson,” wrote author Chris Whipple in his new book, 'Uncharted: How Trump Beat Biden, Harris, and the Odds in the Wildest Campaign in History.'

But it’s what happened after the cameras stopped rolling that’s setting off alarms, the Daily Mail reported.

George Stephanopoulos spills the tea on Joe Biden, then tries to clean it up

Shortly after the interview, Stephanopoulos was caught on the street in New York by a random passerby. When asked about Biden, he casually responded: “I don't think he can serve four more years."

And just like that, the quote made headlines and the ABC anchor quickly scrambled to issue an apology. “Earlier today, I responded to a question from a passerby. I shouldn’t have,” he said at the time, trying to slam the lid shut.

According to Whipple’s book, however, Stephanopoulos was being honest when he made the "four more years" comment, as he confided the same opinion privately. And not just in passing - he told Whipple that seeing Biden was “heartbreaking up close.”

Conservatives on social media were furious that Stephanopoulos had downplayed what he really thought about Biden’s fitness to serve during such a pivotal moment.

"George Stephanopoulos knew that Biden was completely incompetent and unfit to serve. Most of the media did. But they still pushed him on us anyway. They didn’t care that he was destroying the country," one posted on X.

"I couldn’t dislike George any more. He is so partisan and shouldn’t be on TV without a daily disclaimer that states he works for a single party and is not a journalist," another offered.

"He’s not trustworthy. The People should be able to count on media personalities to keep them informed. Burying something like that is unforgivable, IMO," someone else insisted.

"Don’t trust a word George ever says!" read a comment.

"As a Greek man, I can tell you we don't claim Stephanopoulos. He's a whiney, small excuse of a man. Greeks are tough; he's a wimp," another chimed in.

Chris Whipple says it wasn’t a cover-up, but delusion

As for Whipple, he dropped by CNN’s 'Laura Coates Live' to drop some more bombshells. According to him, this wasn’t your typical political cover-up.

They "were really lost in a kind of fog of denial and delusion,” he said of Biden’s inner circle. “The closest advisers to Biden believed, despite all the evidence, that Joe Biden was capable of running for reelection, of winning, and of serving another four years,” Whipple added. “Now it was really delusional.”

He wasn’t buying the idea of a grand scheme either. “This was different from a cover-up. It wasn’t a Watergate-style cover-up. It wasn’t a grand conspiracy as Karl Rove has described it. It really was a case of people who should have known better, believing that Biden could win," he said.

Turns out, even Biden didn’t seem to grasp just how devastating his debate performance had been. Whipple’s book says his former chief of staff, Ron Klain, all but begged him to stay in DC and meet with the Progressive Caucus to hold onto the left wing of his party.

But Biden’s response did not exactly speak to the urgency. “Well, I’m supposed to go to Camp David this weekend for a photoshoot with my family,” Biden said, according to Whipple.

Klain was reportedly stunned. “You need to cancel that. You need to stay in Washington. You need to have an aggressive plan to fight and to rally the troops,” he told Biden.

Biden agreed, but only briefly. His resolve didn't stick. “That weekend, Biden and his family were at Camp David having their pictures taken by photographer Annie Leibovitz,” Whipple wrote.

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