Axios reporter Alex Thompson was recognized on Saturday by the White House Correspondents Association, receiving the Aldo Beckman Award for Overall Excellence for his work in exposing how President Joe Biden’s “cognitive decline was impacting his ability to do his job — information the White House tried to conceal.”
Moderator and host of NBC’s “Meet the Press” Kristen Welker presented the award to Thompson — who co-authored a book on Biden’s decline with CNN anchor Jake Tapper — prompting critics to point out the fact that Biden’s decline had been obvious long before his disastrous CNN debate against President Donald Trump and long before Thompson published a single report on the topic.
WATCH:
.@AlexThomp: “President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception…We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it.” #whcd #nerdprom pic.twitter.com/L9CtbB3HIZ
— CSPAN (@cspan) April 27, 2025
“President Biden’s decline and its coverup by the people around him is a reminder that every White House regardless of party is capable of deception. But being truth tellers also means telling the truth about ourselves. We, myself included, missed a lot of this story and some people trust us less because of it,” Thompson said, suggesting that the blame for the coverup lay entirely with the Biden administration and that the press had been in the dark.
“We bear some responsibility for faith in the media being at such lows,” Thompson conceded, adding that honesty was required in order to rebuild trust. He went on to say that was doubly important because in the current climate, “people are struggling to figure out what’s true, and people with power are not telling the truth.”
“Alex and every single journalist cashing in on these sudden deceptive revelations has yet to explain this photograph,” Stephen L. Miller posted, sharing a picture of a Biden press briefing “cheat sheet” — complete with the reporter’s photo, name pronunciation key, and the question she was supposed to ask.
Alex and every single journalist cashing in on these sudden deceptive revelations has yet to explain this photograph. pic.twitter.com/QkdNeszKBg
— Stephen L. Miller (@redsteeze) April 27, 2025
“Why is it that everyone in America, if not the world, didn’t miss this story, but the one group of people who should have reported it (journalists), didn’t?” another posted.
Why is it that everyone in America, if not the world, didn’t miss this story, but the one group of people who should have reported it (journalists), didn’t?
— Burt Macklin (@BurtMaclin_FBI) April 27, 2025
“@kwelkernbc you all didn’t ‘miss’ the story. You consciously chose to cover it up. The latter is much worse and one of many reasons you’ve completely lost public trust,” another posted.
@kwelkernbc you all didn’t “miss” the story.
You consciously chose to cover it up.
The latter is much worse and one of many reasons you’ve completely lost public trust.
— IT Guy (@ITGuy1959) April 27, 2025
“Hey @kwelkernbcnews, are you familiar with @nbcnews?” Larry O’Connor asked, sharing an NBC News headline that read, “Misleading GOP videos of Biden are going viral. The fact-checks have trouble keeping up.”
Hey @kwelkernbc, are you familiar with @NBCNews? https://t.co/xTfhIRqeWp pic.twitter.com/yBahvyWeOD
— L A R R Y (@LarryOConnor) April 27, 2025
“It. Wasn’t. ‘Deception.’ YEARS before Alex hitched his wagon to Jake Tapper to sell books, I wrote entire one in 2022 on Biden’s brain turning to applesauce. Enough of this ridiculous narrative already of the press playing the victim of being deceived. YOU ALL KNEW,” Joe Concha declared.
It. Wasn’t. “Deception.”
YEARS before Alex hitched his wagon to Jake Tapper to sell books, I wrote entire one in 2022 on Biden’s brain turning to applesauce.
Enough of this ridiculous narrative already of the press playing the victim of being deceived. YOU ALL KNEW. https://t.co/sPq0pKFRjG pic.twitter.com/PJjwL9hNXz
— Joe Concha (@JoeConchaTV) April 27, 2025
