CNN anchor Jake Tapper was surprised to learn from Liz Cheney that Donald Trump was allegedly too depressed to eat after losing the 2020 election to Joe Biden. He dismissed the story, which came from former Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy, as “malarkey.”
The anchor on Tuesday discussed Cheney’s upcoming book, “Oath and Honor,” which includes anecdotes including the one about Trump’s lack of appetite.
In the book, the former Republican congresswoman shared a conversation she had with Rep. Kevin McCarthy in which the one-time Speaker of the House revealed he visited Trump at Mar-a-Lago a few weeks after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
“They’re really worried. Trump’s not eating, so they asked me to come see him,” McCarthy is quoted as saying.
Cheney responded, “What? You went to Mar-a-Lago because Trump’s not eating?” to which McCarthy said, “Yeah. He’s really depressed.
Tapper laughed and said he didn’t buy the story. “I loved the one about [Kevin] McCarthy saying that he had to go down to Mar-a-Lago because The Donald was depressed and he wasn’t eating. First of all, I — that alone I find surprising, but— just because he’s a man of healthy appetites.” He added, “I don’t mean that disparagingly.”
However, Tapper said, “The idea that he would even try to peddle that malarkey to Liz Cheney, I find amazing!”
“Oath and Honor” is out on Dec. 5 from publishers Little, Brown and Company. The book is billed as “A gripping first-hand account of the January 6th, 2021 insurrection from inside the halls of Congress, from origins to aftermath, as Donald Trump and his enablers betrayed the American people and the Constitution—by the House Republican leader who dared to stand up to it.”
Cheney drew Republican ire for serving on the Jan. 6 Committee, which was an investigation into Trump’s involvement in the attempted coup. She lost reelection in 2022.
