In 1992, Tapper served as a campaign press secretary for
Democratic congressional candidate
Marjorie Margolies-Mezvinsky (PA-13) and later served as her congressional press secretary. Tapper also worked for Powell Tate, a Washington, D.C., public relations firm run by Democrat
Jody Powell and
Republican Sheila Tate. Tapper served as a spokesman for
Hooters and worked for Handgun Control, Inc. (now the
Brady Center to Prevent Gun Violence) in 1997. Tapper wrote several articles as a freelance writer and then began his full-time journalism career in 1998; for two years, he was a senior writer for the
Washington City Paper. While there, Tapper wrote an article about going on a date with
Monica Lewinsky, which skewered Washington's
culture of scandal. Tapper won a Society of Professional Journalists award for his work at the
Washington City Paper. Tapper was the Washington correspondent for
Salon from 1999 to 2002. Tapper's reports about
Enron were nominated for a 2002
Columbia University School of Journalism online award, and he was an early questioner of the
Bush administration's claims about Iraq having
weapons of mass destruction. In 2001, Tapper was the host of the CNN news talk show
Take Five. He was also a columnist for
TALK Magazine, and has written for
The New Yorker,
The New York Times Magazine,
The Washington Post, the
Los Angeles Times,
The Weekly Standard, and other publications. Tapper was a frequent contributor to
National Public Radio's
All Things Considered and his work was included in
The Best American Political Writing 2002. Tapper was the correspondent for a series of
VH1 news specials in 2002.
ABC News ABC News hired Tapper in 2003. While working there, Tapper covered a range of topics including work in the ABC News
Baghdad bureau, from
New Orleans after the failure of the levees after
Hurricane Katrina, and from
Afghanistan. From March to July 2010, Tapper was interim anchor of ABC's
This Week, hosting the program until
Christiane Amanpour became
This Weeks anchor. Tapper was named Senior White House Correspondent on November 5, 2008, the day after the 2008 presidential election. In 2010, 2011, and 2012, the White House Correspondents' Association awarded him the
Merriman Smith Memorial Award for presidential coverage under deadline pressure. He was a key part of the ABC News coverage of the inauguration of President Obama that was awarded an Emmy Award for Outstanding Live Coverage of a Current News Story. Tapper was passed over as a candidate to replace
George Stephanopoulos as anchor of
This Week when Stephanopoulos was chosen to replace
Diane Sawyer as co-host of
Good Morning America after she became the anchor of
World News. CNN's
Christiane Amanpour was selected as Stephanopoulos' replacement instead. Tapper served as the interim anchor until Amanpour took over the show on August 1, 2010. Ultimately, Amanpour went back to CNN and Stephanopoulous decided he wanted to return to the position. in 2012 Tapper contributed regularly to
Good Morning America,
Nightline, and
World News with Diane Sawyer. In addition to anchoring
World News and
Good Morning America weekend editions and
Nightline, Tapper was a frequent substitute host of
This Week and served as interim host for much of 2010, scoring the first TV interview with
CIA director
Leon Panetta, as well as exclusives with Vice President
Biden,
White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, retired General
Colin Powell, and former
Federal Reserve chairman
Alan Greenspan, in addition to interviews with other newsmakers, such as
House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Maryland), House Minority Leader
John Boehner (R-Ohio), and Senate Minority Leader
Mitch McConnell (R-Kentucky). As senior White House correspondent, Tapper interviewed President Obama several times. Before his assignment at the White House, Tapper was ABC News' national/senior political correspondent based in the network's Washington, D.C., bureau. He contributed a report to a broadcast of
World News Tonight with Peter Jennings that won the 2005
Edward R. Murrow Award for best network newscast. As ABC News' lead reporter covering the 2008 presidential election, he received recognition for both breaking stories and even-handedness. Traveling from Iowa to New Hampshire to South Carolina and beyond, Tapper interviewed both Republican presidential nominee Sen.
John McCain (R-Arizona) and presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois), as well as other White House hopefuls including former Sen. John Edwards (D-North Carolina), former New York City Mayor
Rudy Giuliani, former Arkansas Governor
Mike Huckabee, New Mexico Governor
Bill Richardson, and former Massachusetts Governor
Mitt Romney.
CNN It was announced December 20, 2012, that Tapper would join
CNN and would anchor a new weekday program and serve as the network's chief Washington correspondent. He began with CNN in January 2013, hosting his own program,
The Lead with Jake Tapper. The Lead with Jake Tapper won three National Headliner Awards for its reporting in 2013. Among broadcast television networks, cable networks and syndicators,
The Lead with Jake Tapper won first prize for its coverage of the
Boston Marathon bombing and second prize for its coverage of the Oklahoma tornadoes in the category of "Coverage of a Major News Event." It won third prize for its coverage of the Boston Marathon bombing in the category of "Continuing Coverage of a Major News Event." In 2014,
The Lead was honored for a series of reports on academic fraud at the
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill by correspondent
Sara Ganim with a
Society of Professional Journalists'
Sigma Delta Chi Award for Investigative Reporting.
The Lead has been nominated for numerous News & Documentary Emmy Awards, including for Outstanding Live News Broadcast. A report for
The Lead by correspondent Isa Sores, called "Madua's Blood Gold", was awarded an Emmy in 2020; a story by Anna Coren on a "9-Year-Old Afghan Sold into Marriage" was
awarded an Emmy in 2022. In January 2015, Tapper's reporting on a new Pentagon policy resulted in the U.S. military changing a rule that was adversely impacting caregivers — "non-medical attendants" or NMAs — for wounded servicemembers. The Pentagon had started to limit reimbursements for NMAs as they worked with servicemembers who had been severely wounded, often with missing limbs or debilitating brain injuries. Upon Tapper's inquiry, the Pentagon reinstated the previous policy. On the 80th anniversary of D-Day in 2024, Tapper reported on Gold Star families protesting a 2014 change in policy by the American Battle Monuments Commission that had previously allowed families to pay for flowers, which the ABMC would ensure be placed on the graves of their loved ones in cemeteries abroad, such as Normandy. After the piece aired, crediting Tapper, the White House pushed the ABMC to change the policy back. asking
Jeb Bush why
Hillary Clinton is responsible for
Benghazi if his brother
George W. Bush bears no responsibility for the terrorist attacks on 9/11; asking Hillary Clinton about the FBI investigation into her private email server; and asking Donald Trump if he would denounce support from
white supremacists, the
Ku Klux Klan, and
David Duke—referred to days later as "the infamous Tapper-Trump exchange" by Mitt Romney in
his March 2016 speech condemning Trump. On September 16, 2015, Tapper moderated two Republican primary debates from the
Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California. The main debate drew an average of 23.1 million viewers, making it the most watched program in the history of CNN and the second most watched primary debate ever. Also in 2017, he received the John F. Hogan Distinguished Service Award from the
Radio Television Digital News Association. In 2018, Tapper was part of a four-person team at CNN that included
Carl Bernstein,
Jim Sciutto, and Evan Perez that won the Merriman Smith Award for broadcast reporting on the White House under deadline pressure. Following the contentious first
2020 presidential election debate, Tapper garnered attention for his response. He called it a "hot mess inside a
dumpster fire inside a train wreck". In January 2021, before the
Inauguration of Joe Biden, CNN announced that Tapper's role would expand to be the network's "lead anchor for all major Washington events", including election nights. Additionally, they announced that Dana Bash would join Tapper as a co-host on
State of the Union, alternating hosting weeks. In 2024, Tapper moderated a Republican primary Debate alongside
Dana Bash between
Ron DeSantis and
Nikki Haley before the
Iowa caucuses; it was viewed by around 2.6 million people. Tapper also co-moderated the
2024 presidential election debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden alongside Bash in which Biden's poor performance led to
his withdrawal from the race. While Biden's confused comments and overall frail appearance during the debate led to widespread concerns about his health and stamina, Tapper and Bash were criticized for not fact-checking Trump's many untruthful statements, such as his assertion that Nancy Pelosi turned down a chance to deploy the National Guard on January 6, 2021. The controversial decision led to discussions among the media and public about journalistic responsibility. In September 2024, in an interview with Michigan governor
Gretchen Whitmer, Tapper and fellow CNN host
Dana Bash misrepresented a statement from Michigan U.S. congresswoman
Rashida Tlaib in an interview with the
Detroit Metro Times, falsely rendering her criticism of Michigan attorney general
Dana Nessel as
antisemitic. After rebuke from the
Detroit Metro Times, Tapper said in an interview with Nessel that he "misspoke" and that he "was trying to characterize [Nessel's] views of Tlaib's comments".
Other programs and media Tapper has contributed to
GQ,
The Weekly Standard, NPR's
All Things Considered,
The New York Times, and
The Washington Post. In 2001, he hosted the program
Take Five on
CNN, in which young journalists and commentators discussed politics and pop culture. In 2002, he hosted a series of entertainment news specials on
VH1, and in 2003, he hosted shows focused on independent film on the
Sundance Channel. Tapper has also been a guest on
Jimmy Kimmel Live,
The Colbert Report,
Late Night with Seth Meyers,
Conan,
The View,
Real Time with Bill Maher, and appeared on the
Judge John Hodgman podcast as guest bailiff, standing in for regular bailiff
Jesse Thorn during the August 31, 2011, episode entitled "De Plane". In October 2022, Tapper wrote a cover story for
The Atlantic magazine about C.J. Rice, a former patient of his father's serving 30–60 years in prison for a crime his father was convinced Rice was physically incapable of committing. Tapper's story detailed the various ways Rice had inadequate counsel. In December 2023, Rice's conviction was overturned and in March 2024, Rice was exonerated, with Tapper breaking the news that Pennsylvania had freed and dropped the charges against Rice. Tapper made a cameo in the Halloween-themed episode of
The Rookie (October 30, 2022). He wore a
Mike Schmidt Philadelphia Phillies jersey; Schmidt was the MVP of the
1980 World Series. Tapper's son, Jack, appeared alongside him, dressed up as
Tom Hanks' character Captain Miller from
Saving Private Ryan. Tapper and his son watched the show together while locked down due to COVID-19, and he wanted to share his appreciation for the program. Tapper posted a Tweet to
Nathan Fillion; according to Tapper, Fillion wrote back and invited the pair for a set visit once COVID protocols were eased. Just before the visit, Fillion asked whether the father and son wanted to film a cameo on the show. Tapper appears in the background on TV screens as a news correspondent in
Superman (2025). Per the credits, his character is called Jake Tapir, and originally he had some dialogue, but this was cut.
Published works On April 24, 2018,
Little, Brown and Company published Tapper's first novel, a political thriller entitled
The Hellfire Club. The novel follows a fictitious freshman Congressman discovering corruption and conspiracy in 1950s Washington, at the height of the McCarthy era. The book debuted at Number 3 on the
New York Times Best Seller list for Hardcover fiction, and remained on the Best Seller list for four weeks total. The
Associated Press called
The Hellfire Club "insightful... well-written and worthwhile."
Tablet Magazine called the novel "startlingly good."
USA Today said the author "sizzles" and "proves he has the page-turning knack in his entertaining debut novel." The sequel to
The Hellfire Club,
The Devil May Dance, was released in May 2021, and continues the story of the lives of Charlie and Margaret Marder. In 2023, the third volume in the series,
All the Demons Are Here, was published. Tapper is also the author of
The Outpost: An Untold Story of American Valor, a critically acclaimed book about U.S. troops in Afghanistan that debuted at number 10 on
The New York Times Best Seller list for hardback non-fiction.
Bob Woodward described the book as "Brilliant, dedicated reporting by a journalist who goes to ground to get the truth. A sad, real tale about this war, America and the brave warriors who live—and die—at the point of the spear" and
Jon Krakauer called it "a mind-boggling, all-too-true story of heroism, hubris, failed strategy, and heartbreaking sacrifice. If you want to understand how the war in Afghanistan went off the rails, you need to read this book." In 2014, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society recognized Tapper for the book and his reporting on military topics in general with the
Tex McCrary Award for Excellence in Journalism. Tapper is the author of
Down and Dirty: The Plot to Steal the Presidency, based on the
2000 Presidential election, that
The Washington Post called "lively", the
Chicago Tribune called "a churning effusion well worth reading", and
The Daily Telegraph called "engrossing". He also wrote
Body Slam: The Jesse Ventura Story (St. Martin's Press) that was excerpted by
The Washington Post Magazine. His
comic strip Capitol Hell appeared in
Roll Call from 1994 to 2003. He has contributed cartoons to
The American Spectator magazine, the
Los Angeles Times, and
The Philadelphia Inquirer. In 2014, Tapper wrote the introduction to
The Complete Peanuts 1993 to 1994. During the week of May 23, 2016, Tapper guest-illustrated the
Dilbert cartoon. The original drawings were auctioned online to raise money for the Homes for our Troops Foundation. In 2025,
Penguin Press published Tapper's book ''
Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again'', which he co-authored with
Alex Thompson. ==Awards and honors==