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Democrat Joe Biden denies alleged sexual assault, requests release of Senate records

Published 05/01/2020, 07:54 AM
Updated 05/01/2020, 06:30 PM
© Reuters. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic at an event in Wilmington

© Reuters. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic at an event in Wilmington

By Trevor Hunnicutt and John Whitesides

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday asked the Senate to find any documents tied to an allegation he sexually assaulted a former aide in 1993, after personally denying the accusation publicly for the first time.

"No, it is not true. I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened," Biden told MSNBC in an interview when asked about the accusation, which his campaign had also previously denied.

A California woman named Tara Reade, who worked as a staff assistant in Biden's Senate office from December 1992 to August 1993, had accused Biden in media interviews of pinning her against a wall in 1993, reaching under her skirt and pushing his fingers inside her.

Biden, 77, who will be the Democratic nominee to face Republican President Donald Trump, 73, in the Nov. 3 U.S. election, had faced growing pressure from within and outside his party to directly address the accusation.

"This is an open book. There's nothing for me to hide," Biden said in the interview, conducted from his home in Delaware where he is self-isolating during the coronavirus outbreak.

In a letter, Biden asked the Secretary of the Senate, Julie Adams, to locate and make public records containing any complaint or other documents relating to Reade's allegation, if they exist, according to a copy of the document seen by Reuters.

During the interview Biden said personal papers from his Senate years, which were donated to the University of Delaware and have yet to be made available to the public, do not contain any personnel files.

He said he was unaware of any complaint against him by Reade, and he had never asked anyone to sign a non-disclosure agreement. He said he would not question Reade's motive and did not know why she had made the complaint.

In the past Biden has suggested that women making accusations of sexual assault should be given the benefit of the doubt, and on Friday he said he was not being hypocritical by rejecting Reade's charges.

"Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make. I'll always uphold that principle," he said. "But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters."

Reuters has not been able to independently confirm Reade's accusation and also was unable to reach Reade or a representative for her comment.

"We appreciate Vice President Biden finally addressing Tara Reade's allegations," said Heather Drevna, the vice president of communications at the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, an anti-sexual violence organization. "These allegations deserve a rigorous investigation."

TRUMP ACCUSATIONS

Trump has been accused in recent years by more than a dozen women of making unwanted sexual advances. In all instances, they claimed the purported misconduct occurred years before he entered politics. Trump has denied the accusations, accusing rival Democrats and the media of a smear campaign.

In an interview on Friday with conservative radio host Dan Bongino, Trump said if the accusations were false, Biden should deny them.

"Just go out and fight it, it's one of those things," Trump said he would advise Biden. "I've been a total victim of this nonsense, false accusations."

Trump's re-election campaign accused Biden of exercising a double standard. "In a dramatic shift, Biden now says ‘believe women’ doesn’t actually mean 'believe women,'" said campaign spokeswoman Erin Perrine.

"We do not know what, if anything, was done to Tara Reade, but there cannot be one set of rules for Joe Biden and another set for everyone else."

Several news outlets that have published Reade's account, including the New York Times (NYSE:NYT) and the Washington Post, have interviewed a friend who said Reade told her about the alleged assault at the time. Another friend told the Times that Reade told her in 2008 about a previous traumatic incident involving Biden. Reade's brother also confirmed parts of Reade's account to The Intercept and the Post.

On Monday, the Business Insider news website published an interview with a former neighbor who said Reade told her in the mid-1990s that Biden had put his fingers inside her.

Reade, 56, told media interviewers she complained at the time about sexual harassment, though not sexual assault, to three of Biden's Senate aides. The Biden campaign released a statement from one, Marianne Baker, who said she never received any report of inappropriate behavior in nearly 20 years of working for Biden.

The Post and Times interviewed the other two aides, both of whom told the newspapers they had no recollection of Reade's complaint.

Reade was one of eight women who last year came forward to say Biden had hugged, kissed or touched them in ways that made them uncomfortable, though none accused him of sexual assault. Reade publicly accused him of the assault on a podcast in March.

Some prominent Democratic women had stepped forward to defend Biden, who was President Barack Obama's vice president, and others had asked him to address the accusation.

© Reuters. Democratic U.S. presidential candidate and former Vice President Joe Biden speaks about the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic at an event in Wilmington

"It can't appear that she's being ignored just because it's an inconvenient truth for certain people in the Democratic Party," said Nina Turner, who was national campaign co-chair for the presidential campaign of Senator Bernie Sanders, who dropped out of the Democratic race and endorsed Biden.

Latest comments

Wouldn't surprise me if the Democratic party leadership and insiders orchestrated this week's dump of allegations to weaken Biden and force him to step aside for a replacement nominee. We all know that Joe is a weak and inspiring candidate.
ps China joe.if you're as innocent as you claim to be;why doen't the great senator from Delaware and VP under the failed presidency of obama submit to a lie detector test.pretty simple joe!#!#.then you don't have to waste your valuable time on trivial take shows like morning joe( your brother at arms)
look at what he does with his niece
biden is a ********Fruad. reason, it toke him this long to come out with a fabricated story rehearsed by him and his puppets.wish other women would come forward to corroborate Reade's story
There needs to be a thorough investigation of Trump and Biden allegations of sexual abuse. Trump has a roomful of accusers so let's start with him.
So does Biden, buddy. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.thecut.com/amp/2020/04/joe-biden-accuser-accusations-allegations.html
trump was a private citizen then; Biden held office . big differences don't you think????
not ice how reuters could not write a piece about bidens allegations without including a section about trump.... there is a bit of a difference between somebody who decades ago filled multiple complaints with multiple collaborating parties. keep up your work for the DNC though reuters
i encourage everybody to look at the multiple steps that bidens accuser took that were buried by congress. ... and to see what he is actually being charged with. also then look at all the hundreds of pictures and videos of biden inappropriately touching women and children.
Reuters mentioned Trump after Trump brought himself into the story in that press conference yesterday by admitting he "knows well about false accusations". Of course Trump can't resist making anything about himself, as usual, so don't blame Reuters for that.
biden cannot even remember his first name, much less would he "remember" or admit to a sexual assault allegation. democrats reap what they sew here. formal complaints were literally filled against biden for this event by his accused, this is not like ford who said she had a beer at a high school party and multiple people disputed her story.
Guy just cant stop lying. I think I see strings haning above him, where he is dancing around like a little puppet.
his accuser is fully paid for by Putin
you mean back decades ago when she filled the complaint about the senate when biden was just starting his career.... wow she really planned ahead
Let her appear before Senate, bring in any corroborating witnesses, run it on all major news networks, assume his guilt until he can prove otherwise, ask if he has any memory lapses (how can he be sure he didn't assault her if he has a gappy memory), etc.
Sure, if you do the same for Trump (for however many accusations there are against him).
 I agree to it, as long as they have a degree of credibility. This goes above politics. I watched Anderson Cooper E. Jean Carroll, who accused Trump, but it was so bizarre that I had to disregard it.
purge the dems out of the country!
Its a REPUBLIC
Was a REPUBLIC
Maga king, it sounds like you would prefer a 1-party system then. Ever consider moving to China or North Korea?
Oh this is fun. The very same people that were protesting Kavanaugh based on allegations with no factual evidence are the very same people defending Biden today. Suddenly due process matters. Out of nowhere, they now feel that actual evidence matters. But with Kavanaugh, all that mattered was someone said he did it. Evidence? Who needs it! He's guilty because he was accused! But with Biden, they want proof. The hypocrisy is so laughable and transparent that everyone can see right through it.
He cant remember yesterday you think he can remember that far back?
Does it matter, the woman has told multiple different versions that changed from inappropriate hugging to now sexual assault? With claimed only one corroborating witness whom she confided to, who happens to have conveniently dead 2-3 years back. Is there even a point in following this story? by that standard, anyone who ever had contact with anyone 30 years back can claim assault, if no backing is needed for such claims. Worse every one who ever had contact with her has said she never said this at any point until recently and no second person claiming this to rely on a pattern of behavior.
another Monica well paid
 Yes it matters because Democrats have set the standard with Kavanaugh. Believe All Women they said. Democrats have made it clear that even a hint or allegation of sexual misconduct is enough to disqualify someone from political office. So why is it different here? Is it because Biden is a Democrat? Do the rules not apply to them? The rules they themselves have created?
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