MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell roasts CNN’s Jake Tapper over Trump text message ‘so-called interview’

MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell roasted CNN’s Jake Tapper on Monday in a rare instance of mainstream anchors shooting inside the tent. 

Tapper on Sunday touted an “exclusive interview with President Donald Trump” that was conducted through text messaging. CNN’s “State of the Union” anchor asked Trump about Hamas’ response to his ceasefire proposal, if Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is on board and the government shutdown, but O’Donnell suggested Tapper was either duped by White House staffers or simply conducted lazy journalism. 

“CNN presented a so-called interview… that they can’t even prove was Donald Trump. They called it ‘breaking news,’ they called it ‘an exclusive, new interview with President Trump.’ That’s what they called it, before the interviewer said this,” O’Donnell said before playing video of Tapper saying Trump answered his questions via “text.”

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CNN’s Jake Tapper was mocked by MSNBC host Lawrence O’Donnell. (Getty Images)

“What? You gave him the questions in writing? So now, instead of letting Trump hide behind a phone call, where we can at least know that it’s him talking, Donald Trump gets to hide behind the black screen of texting? We actually have no idea who texted the replies in that so-called interview,” O’Donnell said. 

The MSNBC host said “CNN is unable to prove” it was actually Trump responding. 

“CNN has not revealed how long it took to get a reply to each of the five written questions that apparently got replies from someone,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell continued to belittle Tapper, suggesting “slow-pitch softball” questions were lobbed at the president. The MSNBC host was particularly bothered when Tapper asked, “How do you think the government shutdown is going to end?”

O’Donnell said Tapper received the “empty answer” he “deserved,” and scolded his liberal media peer for not revealing which questions Trump failed to respond to. 

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Jake Tapper on Sunday touted an “exclusive interview with President Trump” that was conducted through text messaging. 

“What could be more relevant in reporting an exchange than that is supposed to be with the President of the United States, then, including the questions he refused to answer? We have no idea,” O’Donnell said.

O’Donnell suggested  Trump is suffering from mental decline and accused Tapper of helping out the White House communications staff.

“When the history of Donald Trump’s mental decline is written, it will no doubt include that so-called interview yesterday as a turning point in Donald Trump’s White House dealing with the challenge of Donald Trump trying to answer questions during this period of obvious mental decline for Donald Trump,” O’Donnell said. 

“Donald Trump was allowed to become, by CNN, the first president in history to get questions in writing for an interview, questions that he could take home… and then Donald Trump was allowed to take — we don’t know how much time to reply to those questions,” he continued. “We do know CNN is still waiting for some of them.”

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CNN’s Jake Tapper interviewed President Trump via text message.  (CNN/screengrab)

O’Donnell wasn’t finished firing his ire at Tapper and said “this particular interviewer” would be “outraged” if former President Biden had ever answered questions via text message. 

“This particular interviewer wrote an entire book condemning Joe Biden because he didn’t like the way Joe Biden answered questions. He thought Joe Biden wasn’t up to the job of answering questions as a presidential candidate, particularly in the presidential debate,” O’Donnell said, referring to Tapper and Axios reporter Alex Thompson’s book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.”

O’Donnell even believes Tapper could have set a dangerous precedent. 

“In the Sunday morning interview business, and it is a business, every time they lower their standards for Donald Trump, that becomes the new standard,” O’Donnell said. 

A CNN spokesperson defended Tapper. 

“Jake Tapper is a journalist — CNN journalists will always take any opportunity to ask questions of those in power and share what we learn with our audience,” the spokesperson told Fox News Digital. 

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Tapper said Tuesday on The Bulwark podcast he casually texted Trump and didn’t expect to be lauded for the “achievement.” 

“I would much prefer to be doing an interview with him in person, on-camera, but he has not given me an interview since that one in June 2016,” Tapper said. 

Tapper also read the questions that Trump failed to respond to, which included thoughts about Hamas, Obamacare subsidies and whether he would commit to an interview.

The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment.