Joe Biden, in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper, said that he doesn’t think that Russian President Vladimir Putin would use a tactical nuclear weapon but that it was “irresponsible” for him to talk about it.In the first night of his stint as host of CNN Tonight, Tapper was following up on comments that Biden made last week at a fundraiser at the home of James Murdoch. The president warned that it was the “first time since the Cuban missile crisis we have a direct threat of the use of nuclear weapons if in fact things continue down the path they are going.”“The idea that a world leader of one of the largest nuclear powers in the world says he may use a tactical nuclear weapon in Ukraine — and the point I was making was that it could lead to just a horrible outcome,” Biden told Tapper. “And not because anybody intends to turn it into a world war. Once you use a nuclear weapon, the mistakes that can be made, the miscalculations, who knows what could happen?”The interview came after an extended opening monologue in which Tapper, sans tie, went through the succession of past presidents who have misread the Russian president and also posed the question of whether Putin was still a rational actor.For his part, Biden called Putin “a rational actor who’s miscalculated significantly.” Biden also told Tapper that “there will be consequences” to Saudi Arabia for deciding that OPEC+ would slash oil production, a move that helps Russia.Biden said that he would decide after the midterms whether he would run for president again, but he believes that he would be able to beat Donald Trump if they both face off again.Tapper also asked Biden about a report in The Washington Post, which reported that federal agents believe they have enough evidence to charge his son with tax crimes and a false statement about a gun purchase.Biden said that his son struggled with addiction and got “hooked on, like many families have had happen, he got hooked on drugs. He’s overcome that. He’s established a new life. He is. I’m confident that he is what he says and does are consistent with what happens.”The president noted that his son wrote a book about his problems and was “straightforward about it.”He said that Hunter Biden had filled out an application for a gun purchase and answered “no” on the question of whether he used drugs. “And he wrote about it saying no, this book, so I have confidence in my son.”Tapper is scheduled to host the 9 PM ET slot through the midterms, with speculation that he could take over the slot permanently depending on how this gig does.The time slot has been filled by a rotating series of hosts since Chris Cuomo was fired last December.CNN rival Fox News has been winning the time slot with Hannity, while The Rachel Maddow Show, running just on Mondays on MSNBC, has been the top rated non-Fox News cable news show. Notable is that Tapper’s CNN Tonight tenure started this stint on a Tuesday, when CNN Tonight faces Alex Wagner Tonight. Wagner’s show, running from Tuesdays to Fridays, has seen a significant drop off from Maddow’s audience.For his first show, Tapper also featured an interview with another high-profile booking, Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Johnson said that he had seriously considered a presidential run but, as he told CBS Sunday Morning recently, his concentrating on being a father for now.He made clear to Tapper that he is not ruling out a presidential run in the future. “No, not at all,” he said, adding that it was “really moving” that he as even talked up as a potential contender.
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