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12 Things About CNN's Jake Tapper To Explain Why Everyone's OBSESSED With Him

Photo: Hollywood Reporter
12 Little Known Facts About CNN Anchor Jake Tapper

If there’s one silver lining when it comes to being obsessed with the news, as horrible as it seems these days, it’s getting to watch CNN anchor Jake Tapper.

I can’t tell you how many times my husband will call me from the other room and say, “Your boyfriend is on TV.” (My husband knows me. He REALLY knows me!)

I first noticed Jake Tapper during the Boston Bombing, when I was glued to the television, watching the events as it unfolded live in front of me at 3 o'clock in the morning.

Intelligence is super hot to me, so Jake Tapper is, like, SMOLDERING.

Forget the fact he’s a good looking man, he’s legit brilliant, and will NOT back down from someone spinning lies in front of his face.

So, for the sake of proper reporting (and my own curiosity), here are all the answers to your burning questions about this delightful hero we're crushing on so damn hard.

1. Who is Jake Tapper?


CNN

Jacob Paul Tapper (his real name), is 47 years old and was born in New York City and raised in Philadelphia. His father is from a Jewish family and his mother (raised as a Presbyterian) converted to Judaism before he was born. He graduated from Dartmouth College with a Bachelors of Arts degree in History and Visual studies. His birthday is March 12, 1969, which makes him a Pisces. (You know, just in case you wanted to see if you’re a match! *wink*)

He worked for ABC News prior to moving to CNN, where he is currently their Chief Washington Correspondent, host of The Lead With Jake Tapper, and anchor for CNN’s Sunday morning show, State of the Union.

Fun little tidbit: Jake Tapper worked for VH1 back in 2002 as their on-camera reporter for VH1 News and host of VH1's Long-Form News Specials.

Here's Jake reporting ... on a boat! Look at that HAT!

2. Is Jake Tapper Married?

Zimbio

Hold your uteruses ladies. Mr. Tapper is indeed married. Jake's wife, Jennifer Marie Brown, is the lucky lady who gets to wake up next to him every morning. 

They live in Washington, D.C. with their two children — Jack (age 8) and Alice Paul (age 9).

bonappetit.com

3. What is Jake Tapper's net worth?

According to a variety of sources, Jake Tapper has a net worth of a cool $4 million dollars. Not too shabby! The interwebs also estimate that he earns a pretty decent salary, so ... WILL YOU MARRY ME, JAKE TAPPER?

Sorry. Lost myself there for a moment! I'm a married woman. OK, where were we??

4. Does Jake Tapper really create cartoons?

YES! Jake Tapper is actually an accomplished artist. He had his own comic strip in Roll Call for nine years and has contributed cartoons to various outlets throughout his career.

In 2016, he drew a cartoon for the famous Dilbert comic strip, which was later auctioned off, with proceeds going to the Home For Our Troops Foundation.

He also has a special segment at the end of each weekly installment of  State of the Union where he inserts current political news into his drawing. They even have a really cute name for it: State of the Cartoonion. I KNOW!

Here are some of his cartoons:

CNN (3)

5. What is Jake Tapper’s political affiliation?

During an interview with former pitcher for the Red Sox, Kurt Schilling, Tapper was asked about his political loyalties.

Shilling asked Jake the following:

“I would like to ask you something as a person who is practicing the Jewish faith and has since you were young … I don't understand — and this is, maybe this is the amateur, non-politician in me — I don't understand how people of Jewish faith can back the Democratic Party, which over the last 50 years has been so clearly anti-Israel, so clearly anti-Jewish Israel … I don't know what else would need to be done, said or happen for people to understand that they don’t — the Democratic Party is aligned with Israel only because we have agreements in place to make them have to be.”

Tapper clearly explained that not only does he NOT speak for all Jews, but he doesn’t support or affiliate with either party, Democrat or Republican.

6. What's the deal with the Jake Tapper email scandal?

Apparently, former CNN correspondent and former DNC chairperson, Donna Brazile, leaked several questions to reporters John Podesta and Jennifer Palmieri just before a Democratic Primary debate. These were questions they were suggested to ask Bernie Sanders in an attempt to undermine his candidacy for the Presidential elections. 

WikiLeaks at one point suggested that Tapper was also involved in this collusion.

While speaking to WMAL's Larry O'Connor and Brian Wilson, he responded to the allegations as follows:

"It’s a very, very troubling … Look, I have tremendous regard for Donna Brazile. She’s a good person and a nice person and I like her a lot but whatever took place here … and I know I had nothing to do with it … and I know CNN, we were so closely guarding our documents … they weren’t emailed around ... People at CNN take this very, very seriously and to have somebody who does not take it seriously and to have us partner with that person and then they do something completely unethical and share it with Donna Brazile who then shares it with the Clinton campaign ... I condemn it in no uncertain terms, it’s awful."

7. What's the story with Jake Tapper and Kellyanne Conway?

It's no secret that President Donald Trump and counselor to the president, Kellyanne Conway, have issues with the media, particularly CNN. When interviewed by Jake Tapper, Kellyanne Conway really has to stay on her toes because Tapper goes for it with NO mercy.

See for yourself:

The now infamous banter between Jake and Kellyanne has now made Saturday Night Live history with this humorous take on Fatal Attraction.

Arguably, the best part of this all was Jake Tapper's response on Twitter:

8. And what about Jake Tapper and Mike Pence?

Back in December of 2016, Jake grilled then Vice President-elect Mike Pence during this 12-minute interview:

Following that, Tapper made this guest appearance on the Conan O'Brien Show, where he spoke in glorious detail about reporting in the era of Donald Trump:

If you aren't madly in love yet, I don't even know who you are. But wait. There's more ...

9. How tall is Jake Tapper?

In my mind, the man is tall — even though when I searched for Jake Tapper's height, I found out that he is only 5 feet 6 inches. He carries himself like the best kind of giant, so it's all good by me.

10. How can you contact Jake Tapper?

I'd say your best bet is Twitter. He also has a Facebook page and a pretty fun Instagram, though, unfortunately, hasn't updated that social media account in a few months.

 

My director is having too much fun

A post shared by Jake Tapper (@jaketapper) on Aug 2, 2016 at 12:44pm PDT

But I'm pretty sure that, in general, his inbox in probably FILLED with love letters ... err ... I mean, not from me. No. Not at all. Anyway ...

11. Where is Jake Tapper now?

I see this question asked a lot, and I'm not sure if people are asking this LITERALLY or figuratively. I'm going to assume that Jake Tapper is either at CNN headquarters, off somewhere covering breaking news or at Jake Tapper's home, depending on when it is you are reading this.

Tapper is often sent out on assignment to different locations when there's a news-worthy event, such as the ever growing number of terrorist attacks. Tapper spent some time in Paris after the coordinated terror attacks in November of 2015.

But it seems he always prefers to spend as much time at home with his family as he can. Home and Design even featured his home on their site, so now we can get a look at where he kicks back to relax after a hard day in the trenches with Wolf Blitzer!

12. Finally, here are some sexy pictures for your viewing pleasure of the man, the myth, the legend ... Jake Tapper!

Dartmouth


Bleeding Cool

DeathandTaxes


Slate

You're welcome!