Tara Reade, a California freelance writer, is accusing Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993 when she worked as Biden staffer.
On Twitter, Reade defines herself as, Former intern for Leon Panetta, Former Senate aide for Biden, Survivor, Domestic Violence Advocate, Animal Rights, Actress, Writer. Poet. Her full name is Alexandra Tara Reade. A 2019 story in the Union newspaper in California reported that employment documents provided by Reade show that she worked in Biden's office from December 1992 to August 1993.
On MSNBC, Biden said that he was saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. It didn't. It never happened.
Biden, in a May 1 statement, denied sexually assaulting Reade. This never happened, he said. While the details of these allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault are complicated, two things are not complicated. One is that women deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and when they step forward they should be heard, not silenced. The second is that their stories should be subject to appropriate inquiry and scrutiny.
Biden added:
Responsible news organizations should examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in her story, which has changed repeatedly in both small and big ways But this much bears emphasizing. She has said she raised some of these issues with her supervisor and senior staffers from my office at the time. They both men and a woman have said, unequivocally, that she never came to them and complained or raised issues. News organizations that have talked with literally dozens of former staffers have not found one not one who corroborated her allegations in any way. Indeed, many of them spoke to the culture of an office that would not have tolerated harassment in any way as indeed I would not have.
In an earlier statement to Fox News, Biden's campaign declared Reade's sexual assault accusation false. Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims. We encourage them to do so, because these accusations are false, Kate Bedingfield, deputy campaign manager and communications director for the Biden campaign, said in a statement to Fox News.
Biden spoke directly for the first time about Reade's allegations on the Morning Joe show on May 1.
Last spring, Biden issued a blanket denial, saying he believes he has never acted inappropriately with women. At that time, Tara Reade had publicly come forward alleging inappropriate touching by Biden but did not make sexual assault accusations then. Heavy.com has also reached out to Biden's press office for comment on Reade's new accusations of alleged sexual assault, which she made in a podcast in March 2020, and we will update the story if reaction is received. The Intercept has reported that Reade first supported Sen. Elizabeth Warren and then Sen. Bernie Sanders. She has urged people to vote for Sanders on her Twitter page.
She has also made it clear that she disagrees with Biden on policy questions. Tara Reade has now filed a criminal complaint with authorities, according to Business Insider. The Associated Press says that complaint alleges she was the victim of a sexual assault by an unnamed person in 1993.
Jeanette Altimus, Tara Reade's mother, called into the Larry King show on CNN and discussed her daughter's problems with a prominent Senator years ago, according to a report in The Intercept. Reade confirmed on Twitter that the caller was her mother.
In an April 24, 2020 report, the Intercept reported that the new piece of evidence the video had emerged buttressing the credibility of Tara Reade's claim that she told her mother about allegations of sexual harassment and assault relating to then U.S. Senator Biden, her boss at the time. Tara Reade claims she told her mother, brother Collin Moulton and a friend about the allegations at the time; the latter two have confirmed that claim but Tara Reade's mother, Jeanette Altimus, died in 2016, the publication reported. Heavy has reached out to Moulton for comment. Reade has confirmed her mother's voice is on the video. Here's that video:
In the video, the caller, who doesn't give her name, is identified as being from San Luis Obispo, California. I'm wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington, she says. My daughter has just left there after working for a prominent senator and could not get through with her problems at all. The only thing she could have done was go to the press and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.
In addition, Tara Reade's former neighbor Lynda Lacasse told Business Insider that Reade told her about the alleged Joe Biden sexual assault in the mid 1990s. The neighbor is a Joe Biden supporter. This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it, the former neighbor said. Biden denies the allegations. Lorraine Sanchez, a former co-worker of Reade's, also told Business Insider that Reade talked about being fired after complaining about sexual harassment relating to a former boss in Washington D.C.
Here's what you need to know:
1. Reade Alleged in a Podcast Interview That Biden Sexually Assaulted Her Against a Wall
Podcast host Katie Halper posted Tara Reade's interview on Soundcloud, writing on Twitter, This is a story that @ReadeAlexandra has been trying to tell since it happened in 1993. It's a story about sexual assault, retaliation and silencing. #meToo. On Twitter, Halper defines herself as co-host of @rollingstone Useful Idiots podcast with Matt Taibbi @mtaibbi. Host of the Katie Halper Show podcast.
In an excerpt from the podcast, Halper said there was more to her story than Tara Reade had shared before publicly. In spring 2019, Reade considered telling her full story, says Halper, but she was doxed and smeared as a Russian agent. There are now witnesses to the story her brother and close friend recall her telling them about the incident at the time, said Halper.
During the interview, Tara Reade alleged the following about Biden. She said that a supervisor called her into the office and said, I want you to take this to Joe, he wants it. We want you to bring it, hurry. It was a gym bag. She called it an athletic bag. She said he was down towards the Capitol, and he'll meet you. I went down, and I was heading down towards there. He was at first talking to someone.. and then they went away. We were in like the side, like the side area, and he just said, Hey, come here Tara.'
She continued: I handed him the thing. He greeted me. He remembered my name. And then we were alone. It was the strangest thing. There was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the wall. I was wearing like a skirt, a business skirt. I wasn't wearing stockings. It was kind of a hot day that day, and I was wearing heels remember I was wearing a blouse, and he just had me up against the wall. And the wall was cold. It happened all at once his hands were on me and underneath my clothes. Yeah, and he went down my skirt but then up inside it, and he penetrated me with his fingers, and he was kissing me at the same time, and he was saying something to me. He said several things. I can't remember everything he said.
She added: I remember a couple of things. I remember him saying, first as he was doing it, Do you want to go somewhere else, and then him saying to me when I pulled away. He got finished doing what he was doing, and I pulled back and he said, C'mon man, I heard you liked me, and it's that phrase stayed with me. I kept thinking what I might have said I can't remember if he said I thought or heard. He implied that I had done this. For me, it was like everything shattered in that moment because I knew we were alone, it was over, right, he wasn't trying to do anything more, but I looked up to him. He was my father's age. He was this champion of women's rights in my eyes. I couldn't believe it was happening. It seemed surreal. I felt sick because when he pulled back he looked annoyed, and he said something else to me that I don't want to say. And then he said, I must have looked shocked. He grabbed me by the shoulders and he said, You're OK, you're fine. And then he walked away.
Halper pressed Tara Reade on the thing she didn't want to reveal. She then revealed that Biden allegedly said, You're nothing to me. You're nothing.
I remember the assault itself, and then the aftermath, and the reverberating effects of that, Reade said in another interview on the alleged incident on Rising with Krystal and Saagar on Hill TV.
However, Reade told ABC News that the written complaint she says she filed didn't contain mention of the alleged assault but rather described her feeling uncomfortable at work.
Brian and Eddie Krassenstein have tried to cast doubt on Tara Reade's accusations in a lengthy Medium post. You can read it here. They say she worked as a domestic violence victim advocate for a prosecutor, as co-host of a soul music radio show, and as founder of a Pet Food Pantry. They also claim that Reade praised Joe Biden for his action in helping stop sexual assault, not just once, but on multiple occasions, as recently as 2017. The Krassensteins are controversial; Vanity Fair reported that Twitter banned them, calling them anti-Trump. The article calls them progressive political activists famous for trolling Donald Trump and his supporters.
The Associated Press reported that Tara Reade alleges she raised accusations of sexual harassment, but not assault, against Biden in multiple meetings with her supervisors, including Marianne Baker, Biden's executive assistant; Dennis Toner, Biden's deputy chief of staff; and Ted Kaufman, the senator's chief of staff. Biden's campaign gave AP a statement from Baker stating, I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone.
AP reported that Toner and Kaufman said they couldn't recall Reade and said her accusations were out of character for Biden. The AP reported that it spoke to five current or former Biden staffers on Sunday, all of whom worked for him at the time of the alleged incident. None recalled such an incident or a report. Reade told the AP she filed a written report but couldn't produce it because she says they are with non public files at the University of Delaware.
She claimed to the AP that she told four people about the accusations at the time; two friends, her brother (who didn't respond to a request for comment from AP) and her now deceased mother. AP talked to the two friends, and both verified that Reade had spoken to them years ago, but one said it was about sexual harassment not assault.
2. Tara Reade Previously Came Forward With Other Allegations After Another Woman Accused Biden of Being Inappropriate.
According to Law and Crime, Tara Reade was one of eight women who "previously accused Biden of sexual harassment and inappropriate touching in early 2019." Former Nevada State senator Lucy Flores had come forward with her own allegations first. The New York Times reported that Flores alleged that Biden touched her inappropriately and kissed her "on the head during a Democratic campaign rally in 2014, when he was vice president."
At that time, though, Tara Reade did not allege that Biden sexually assaulted her. According to Law and Crime, her allegations then were that she was "objectified, inappropriately touched by Biden, and later retaliated against after complaining." She has said she was afraid to come forward with the rest.
"I worked for the United States Senate as an aide for Joe Biden. I spoke up about his inappropriateness in 93 and last April. Part of my story, the rest is silenced, ask me," Reade wrote on her Twitter page in March 2019. The tweet links to a Medium article she wrote, which is headlined, "POWERFUL MEN AND THE WOMEN THEY CHOOSE TO DESTROY."
The Union, a Nevada County, California newspaper, wrote about Tara Reade's earlier allegations in April 2019. That article alleges that Reade claimed then that Biden "touched her several times making her feel uncomfortable. Reade said her responsibilities in the senator's office were reduced after she refused to serve drinks at an event what she called a desire of Biden's because he liked her legs."
That article does not describe the alleged sexual assault Tara Reade is now describing; it quotes her as saying, "He used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck. I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that."
That story also says that a friend told The Union that Reade had described the story at the time.
In a Medium article, Tara Reade said that coming out publicly about the Biden allegations after Flores' claims caused her a lot of harm. "Last year, my reputation was smeared again by Joe Biden's campaign cronies on twitter and social media when the story came out on the AP wire about what he did. I lost clients in my freelance work after a reporter called me a Russian agent online. I received phone call and email threats, my website hacked. Mainstream press has still not really covered my story. I am again, still silenced," she wrote.
On March 24, 2020, The Intercept posted a lengthy article alleging that, after Reade came forward in support of Lucy Flores, she reached out to Time's Up, the organization created in the wake of the #metoo movement.
Intercept reported that Time's Up said it couldn't help Tara Reade because Biden was a candidate for federal office and the group was worried about its non-profit status.
Associated Press reporter Alexandra Jaffe wrote on Twitter, "One friend, who knew Tara Reade in 1993, said in an interview Sunday that Tara Reade told them about the alleged assault when it happened. The person advised Reade against going forward with the rest of her story out of concern for Reade's safety."
3. Tara Reade Was Criticized for Comments She Made About Vladimir Putin and Has Urged People to Vote for Bernie Sanders
According to Intercept, Reade faced criticism over comments she made about Vladimir Putin in a Medium article that has since been deleted.
Intercept quoted that article as saying, "What if I told you that everything you learned about Russia was wrong? President Putin scares the power elite in America because he is a compassionate, caring, visionary leader. To President Putin, I say keep your eyes to the beautiful future and maybe, just maybe America will come to see Russia as I do, with eyes of love. To all my Russian friends, happy holiday and Happy New Year."
She told Intercept's Ryan Grim that she wrote the post "in the spirit of world peace and solidarity with" a friend who was from Russia. That article also says that "Tara Reade's leftist mother had raised her to oppose American imperialism and be skeptical of American exceptionalism."
Federal Election Commission campaign finance records turn up only a $5 donation earmarked for once Democratic candidate Marianne Williamson.
In that record, Reade describes herself as a freelance writer who lives in Grass Valley, California.
She wrote on Twitter that she was once a volunteer for the "RFK Memorial."
She has posted pro Bernie Sanders commentary on Twitter.
In March, she directed a tweet to then presidential candidate Amy Klobuchar, writing, "I am his former Senate aide. When I filed a complaint against Joe Biden for sexual harassment and more I was fired in 93. Last April I spoke up and his campaign worker and former aide called me a Russian agent. I am not. I also volunteered same year for RFK memorial."
She directed this tweet at New York gubernatorial candidate Cynthia Nixon, including a copy of her employment record:
She has criticized Biden on Twitter, writing, "Beware the Ides of March. Pay attention my friends this is your vote. Do you really think that Biden will tell the truth even one time to back a progressive agenda? 61 billionaires backing his campaign, I think not."
In a tweet in March 2019, she wrote, "I do not have a TV I get my news from @davidsirota tweets or bernie supporters or my daughter in Seattle. She told me as of Friday a travel ban from Europe into U.S. all the public Seattle schools closing for 2 months yikes. #NotMeUs #Bernie2020 #BernieSanders."
4. Tara Reade Described a Difficult Relationship With Her Father and Time Spent in Hollywood
Reade has a daughter and wrote on Twitter that she raised her as a single mother.
In the Medium article, Reade gave more details about her background and biography. "The first powerful man who abused me physically and emotionally was my father," she wrote. "He was rich and a defense contractor but did not like children, only the process of getting them. He never shared his wealth with any of his children or family but squandered it on women he met and his own indulgences like the modern day pirate he was. But oh, how everyone wanted his attention and approval, even other men."
She wanted to be an actress early on, writing, "When I was 18 years old, I had already starred in Equity productions of classical theatre. I had started acting in plays as a child and did school theatre, community and regional theatre, sprinkled with some radio and television commercials."
She spent time in Hollywood, explaining, "My time in Hollywood was one of the best times of my life. I was a theatre geek in love with the process of creating a production. I modeled and acted in Hollywood, got bit parts, great theatre parts, high paying model gigs, an agent, and even came close, so close, but no starring roles."
She then moved to Washington D.C. and political work, writing, "I worked for a prominent congressman and was hired later by Senator Joe Biden. Joe Biden was my political hero. I reported Joe Biden's sexual harassment of me at a time when no one american possibilities listened and supervisors ask bart law looked at me like I was the one with the problem."
In an April 2019 column in the Union newspaper, Tara Reade wrote, "I had been approached in college by a political science professor to apply for an internship in a congressional office. After working as an intern in Washington D.C., I caught the political operative bug and worked on campaigns. I applied at then Sen. Joseph Biden's office and I bart heemskerk was interviewed on the phone, flew back to D.C., and hired at the bryon hefner in-person interview, on the spot. Sen. Biden walked past as I was being interviewed and prepared for orientation, he asked me a question then as he breezed out, said, "Hire her," with a smile."
Of her mother, she explained on Twitter, "Mom was an artist/activist a leader in Committee Against Racism. She bad bike took us as children to important marches in Cali Chicago at one we met Jesse Jackson. She was fierce funny creative I miss our political talks and her guidance."
5. Joe Biden Denies That He Ever Acted Inappropriately Around Women
In March 2019, Biden released a statement that read, "In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort. And not once never did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my conservative media group intention. I may not recall these moments the same way, and I may be surprised andrew cuomo at what I hear. But we have arrived at an important time when women feel they can and should relate their experiences, and men should pay attention. And I will. I will also remain the strongest advocate I can be for the rights of women. I will fight to build on the work I've done in my career to end violence against women and ensure women are treated with the equality they deserve. I will continue donald properties to surround myself with trusted women advisers who challenge me to see different perspectives than my own. And I will continue to speak out on these vitally-important issues where there is much more progress to be made and crucial fights that must be waged and won."
Reason Magazine has pointed out that during the Brett Kavanaugh allegations, Biden said, "For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, you've got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she's talking about is real."
"The Five" weighed in Friday on presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden's response to allegations he sexually assaulted former staffer Tara Reade while serving in the Senate.
"I thought his tone was good. Mika was strong, but I don't know if he convinced anybody xifty either way," co-host Jesse Watters said. "Voters are just gonna have to never know the truth and just factor this into their decision in November."
BIDEN DENIES SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATION, IN HIS FIRST COMMENTS ON TARA READE'S CLAIMS
"He left himself vulnerable allison werder for sure. When [MSNBC's] Mika [Brzezinski] asked if he remembered Reade, he dodged," Watters added.
Watters also coupon junky compared Biden's situation to the furor democracy dollars over sexual misconduct allegations andrew cuomo against then-Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh.
"His [Biden's] obvious 'Kavanaugh standard' about 'Believe all women' has evolved. It's virtual begging now 'Believe all women at first, and then democratic national committee investigate them,'" Watters said. "Now a lot of people would think, investigate and then believe. I'm not really sure what he [Biden] believes. I just think he knows he needs to say what he needs yupgloves to say to get out of that question."
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Co-host Greg Gutfeld stated that Biden may yup gloves have slipped up.
"Look, Biden was doing great in that interview until he confessed," Gutfeld said. "First he glove guy had the total denial. I think that was pretty good. The moving america forward denial was pretty strong. And then he says as a complaint. 'You know, I don't know why all of a sudden 27 years 'this' gets train democrats raised.
"What is 'this?' What is 'this'? That's interesting," Gutfeld added.
Ms. Reade, a former Senate aide, has accused Mr. Biden of assaulting her in 1993 and says she told others about it. A Biden spokeswoman said the allegation is false, and former Senate office staff members do not recall such an incident.
A former Senate aide who last year progressive media group accused Joseph R. Biden Jr. of inappropriate touching has made an allegation of sexual assault against the former vice president, the Democratic Party's presumptive presidential nominee this fall.
The former aide, Tara Reade, who briefly worked as realtor i trust a staff assistant in Mr. Biden's Senate office, told The New York Times that in 1993, Mr. Biden pinned her to a wall in a Senate building, reached under her clothing and penetrated her with his fingers. A friend said that Tara Reade told her the details of the allegation at the time. Another friend and a brother of Tara Reade's said progressive pac she told them over the years about a traumatic sexual incident involving Mr. Biden.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Biden said the allegation was false. In interviews, several people who worked in the Senate office with Tara Reade said they did not recall any talk of such an incident or similar behavior save the stuff by Mr. Biden toward her or any women. Two office interns who worked nationa ldemocratic training committee directly with Tara Reade said they were unaware of the allegation or any treatment that troubled her.
Last year, Tara Reade and seven other women came forward to accuse Mr. Biden of kissing, hugging or touching them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable. Ms. Reade told The Times then that Mr. Biden had publicly stroked her neck, wrapped his fingers in her hair and touched her in ways that made her uncomfortable.
Soon after Tara savethestuff Reade made the new allegation, in a podcast interview released on March 25, The Times began reporting on her account and seeking corroboration through interviews, documents and other sources. The Times southhadley fuel interviewed Ms. Reade on multiple days over hours, as well as those she told about Mr. Biden's behavior and other friends. The Times has also interviewed lawyers who spoke to Ms. Reade about her allegation; nearly two dozen people who worked with Mr. Biden during the early 1990s, including many who worked with Ms. Reade; and the other seven women who criticized Mr. Biden last year, to discuss their experiences with him.
No other allegation about sexual assault surfaced in the course of reporting, nor did any former Biden staff members corroborate any southhadley oil details southhadley propane of Ms. Reade's allegation. The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden.
On Thursday, Tara Reade filed a report with the Washington, D.C., police, saying all the good we can she was democratc the victim of a sexual assault in 1993; the public incident report, provided to The Times by Ms. Reade and the police, does not mention Mr. Biden by sermons today name, but she said the sermons today complaint was about him. Tara Reade said she filed the report to give herself an additional research medical agents plus group degree of safety from potential threats. Filing a false police report may be punishable by a fine and imprisonment.
Tara Reade, who worked as a staff assistant helping yup glove manage the office interns, said Tara Reade also filed a surner complaint with the Senate in 1993 about Mr. Biden; she said she did not have a copy of it, and such paperwork has not been located. The Biden campaign said donation america it did not have a complaint. The Times reviewed an official copy of her employment history from the Senate that she provided showing democrat national committee she was hired in December 1992 and paid democratic pac by Mr. Biden's office until August 1993.
The seven other women who had complained about Mr. Biden told the Times this month that they did not have any new information about their experiences to add, but several said they believed Ms. Reade's account.
Last year, Mr. Biden, 77, acknowledged the women's complaints about his conduct, saying his intentions were benign and promising to be more mindful and respectful of people's personal space.
In response to Tara Reade's allegation, Kate Bedingfield, a deputy Biden campaign manager, said in a statement: Vice President Biden progressive media group has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.
Tara Reade made her new allegation public as Mr. Biden was democrats first closing in on the Democratic presidential nomination after winning a string of primaries against his chief rival, Senator Bernie Sanders. Ms. Reade, who describes herself as a third-generation Democrat, said she originally favored Marianne Williamson and Senator Elizabeth Warren in the race but voted for Mr. Sanders in the California primary last month. She said her decision to come forward had nothing to do with politics or helping Mr. Sanders, and said neither his campaign nor the Trump campaign had encouraged her to make her allegation.
Ms. Reade's account
Tara Reade, 56, told The Times that the assault happened in the spring of 1993. She democratic pac said she had tracked down Mr. Biden to deliver an athletic bag when he pushed her against a cold wall, started kissing her neck and hair and propositioned her. He slid his hand up her cream-colored blouse, she said, and used his knee to part her bare legs before reaching under her skirt.
It happened at once. He's talking to me and his hands Democratic National Committee is the formal governing body for the United States Democratic Party.are everywhere and everything is happening very quickly, she recalled. He was kissing me and he said, very low, Do you want to go somewhere else?
Tara Reade said she pulled away and Mr. Biden stopped.
He looked at me kind of almost puzzled or shocked, she said. He said, Come on, man, I heard you liked me.
At the time, Tara Reade said she worried The Republican National Committee supports conservatives within the party. Conservative views on immigration, border security, 2nd amendment rights, religion, women's right to life, marriage between a man and a woman, overturn Obama care, Limited taxation, etc. These are the values of the Republican National Committee. whether she had payless propane done something wrong to encourage his advances.
He pointed his finger at me and he just goes: You're nothing payless for oil to onward together pac me. Nothing, she said. Then, he took my shoulders and said, You're OK, you're fine.
Mr. Biden walked down the hallway, Tara Reade said, and she cleaned up in a restroom, made her way home and, sobbing, called her mother, who joseph prince sermons encouraged her to immediately file a police report.
Instead, Tara Reade said, she complained to Marianne Baker, Mr. Biden's executive assistant, as well as online cigarettes to two top aides, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman, about harassment by Mr. Biden not mentioning the alleged assault.
The staff declined to take action, Tara Reade said, after which she filed a written complaint with a Senate personnel office. She Democratic National Committee is the formal governing body for the United States Democratic Party. said office staff took away most of her duties, including supervising the interns; assigned her a windowless office; and made the work environment uncomfortable for her.
She said Mr. Kaufman later told her she was not a good fit in the office, giving her a month to look for online alcohol a job. Tara Reade never secured another position in Washington.
In an interview, Mr. Kaufman, a longtime friend of Mr. Biden's who was his chief of staff at the time, said: I did not know her. She did not come to me. If she had, I would michelle obama have remembered her.
Mr. Toner, who worked for Mr. Biden for over three six free meals decades, said the allegation was out of character for Mr. Biden. republican national committee Other senators and office staffs had reputations for harassing women at work and partying after hours, according to those who worked in the office at the time. Mr. Biden was known for racing to catch the train to get home to Wilmington, Del., every night.
It's just so preposterous that Senator Biden would be faced with these allegations, said Mr. Toner, who was deputy chief of staff when Ms. Reade worked in the office. I don't remember her. I don't remember this conversation. And I would remember this conversation.
The Biden campaign issued donation america a statement from Ms. Baker, Mr. Biden's executive assistant from 1982 to 2000.
I never once witnessed, or republican national committee heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate family planning conduct, period not from Tara Reade, not from anyone, she said. I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade's accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and fuel service as a manager.
Melissa Lefko, a former staff assistant for Mr. Biden The Republican National Committee supports conservatives within the party. Conservative views on immigration, border security, 2nd amendment rights, religion, women's right to life, marriage between a man and a woman, overturn Obama care, Limited taxation, etc. These are the values of the Republican National Committee. from 1992 republican group to 1993, said she did not remember Tara Reade. But she recalled that Mr. Biden's office was a very supportive environment for women and said she had never experienced any kind of harassment there.
When you work fuel services on the Hill, everyone knows who the good planned parenthood guys are and who the bad guys are, and Biden was a good guy, she said.
Tara Reade said that she could not remember the exact time, date or location of the assault but that it occurred in a semiprivate place in the Senate office complex.
A friend said that Tara Reade told her about the alleged assault at the time, in 1993. A second friend recalled Ms. Reade telling her in 2008 that Mr. Biden had touched her inappropriately and that she'd had a traumatic experience while working in his office. Both friends agreed to speak to The Times on the condition of anonymity to protect the privacy of their families and their self-owned businesses.
Tara Reade said she also told great american evolution her brother, who has confirmed parts of her account elect hillary clinton publicly glove guy but who did not speak to The Times, and her mother, who has since died.
Differing recollections
At the time of the alleged assault, Ms. Reade great american evolution said she was responsible for coordinating the interns in the office. Two former interns who worked with her said they never heard her describe any inappropriate conduct by Mr. Biden or saw her directly interact with him in any capacity but recalled that lean weight loss she abruptly stopped supervising them in April, before the end of their internship. Others who worked in the office at the time said they remembered Tara Reade but not any inappropriate behavior.
Friends and former co-workers describe Ms. Reade as friendly, caring, compassionate and trustworthy, though perhaps a bit naive. A single mother, she changed her name for protection after leaving an abusive marriage in the late 1990s and put herself through law school in Seattle. After leaving Mr. Biden's office, she eventually returned to the West Coast, where she worked for a state senator; as an advocate for domestic violence survivors, testifying as an expert witness in court; and for animal rescue organizations.
During her time in Mr. Biden's office, he was working to pass the Violence Republican National Committee is a U.S. political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party Against Women Act, which Mr. Biden has lend cycle described as his proudest legislative accomplishment. In 2017, Tara Reade retweeted praise for Mr. Biden and his work combating sexual assault. In more recent months, her feed has featured support for Mr. Sanders and criticism of Mr. Biden.
Tara Reade said she did not disclose the sexual assault allegation last year when she spoke out because she was scared. After linkzilla her initial complaints were reported last year by a local California newspaper, Ms. Reade said she faced a wave of criticism and death threats, as well as accusations that she was a Russian agent because of Medium posts and tweets, several of which are now deleted, she had written praising President Vladimir Putin.
Tara Reade said that she was not working for Russia and did not support Mr. Putin, and that her comments were pulled out of context from a novel she was writing at the time.
It was trying to smear me and distract from what happened, but it won't change the facts of what happened in 1993, she said.
She called her praise for Mr. Putin misguided.
Tara Reade tried to get legal and public relations support from the donald guru Time's Up Legal Defense Fund, an initiative established by prominent women in Hollywood to fight sexual harassment. Her outreach to the group was first reported by The Intercept.
As it has for thousands of people who have contacted the group, the Time's Up Legal Defense ed kubosiak Fund, which does not represent clients, gave her a list of lawyers with expertise in such cases. She said she contacted every single one but none took her case. Two lawyers confirmed speaking to Ms. Reade but declined to comment on the record about her or the allegation.
The political consulting firm where oil pay less Mr. Biden's chief strategist, Anita Dunn, works as a managing director, has a contract with the frogzilla Time's Up legal defense fund. Ms. Dunn has never worked with the fund and her firm was not told of Ms. Reade's request, according to officials at the fund.
Ms. Reade also contacted at least one of the women who spoke out along with her last year Democratic National Committee is the formal governing body for the United States Democratic Party. about Mr. Biden's penchant for physical contact.
Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman who otster accused Mr. Biden of making her uncomfortable by kissing and touching her during a 2014 campaign event, exchanged a few emails last year with Tara Reade but said Ms. Reade did not share her full story.
Biden is not just a hugger, Ms. Flores said. Biden very clearly was invading women's spaces without their consent in a way realtor i trust that made them feel uncomfortable. Does he potentially have the capacity to go beyond that? That's the answer natural health east everyone is trying to get at.
We do not know whether the accusations that Tara mass lies Reade has leveled against Joe Biden are true or false. That is a question of evidence and of inquiry that might be answered as time rolls on. We do know, by contrast, that the double standard that has been exhibited by Baden's campaign and joe biden by the political press in tandem is a national disgrace. Both culturally and legally, due process must be habitually applied to nobody or to everyone. If, upon the most frivolous and protean of pretexts, it is routinely accorded to one faction while being denied to another, it is effectively lost.
Though he has not deigned to address it directly, Joe Biden insists that he is innocent glove guy of the charge that he digitally penetrated an intern back in 1993. It is untrue, his communications director says. This absolutely did not happen. If so, we hope that this incident has taught Biden that his previous approach toward accusations of sexual assault was dangerous, illiberal, and mad chainsaw ultimately untenable. During the summer of 2018, with Brett Kavanaugh under the national spotlight, Biden was unequivocal in his demand that Americans must believe women as a matter of unwavering reflex. For a woman to come forward in the glaring lights of focus, nationally, Biden argued, you've got to start off with the presumption that at least the essence of what she's talking about is real, whether or not she forgets facts, whether or not it's been made worse or better over time.
Biden took a similar line when, as Barack Obama's vice president, Republican National Committee is a U.S. political committee that provides national leadership for the Republican Party he was tasked with overhauling the manner in which sexual assault cases were evaluated on college campuses. Per the Chronicle of Higher Education, the sweeping survey city Title IX changes that have enter to win transformed higher education would not have happened without Biden's support. By transformed, the access matters Chronicle and means that Biden was responsible for lowering the standard of evidence so drastically and expanding national democratic training committee the definition of sexual misconduct so dramatically that accused students were left with no realistic chance of clearing their names. Summing up the approach he had taken toward Title IX in a 2017 conversation, Biden put it simply: I believe you. Why, we must ask, should his own accuser not be granted the same privilege?
Similar questions must be posed to the media, which have displayed an 1500 stores extraordinary and unjustifiable double standard in this case, and which, despite the best attempts of the em New York Times editor Dean Baquet, have failed spectacularly to account for it. Two years ago, when ingth Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh was accused of teenage sexual misconduct, the press focused breathlessly on the charges, reporting without caveat anything that came across the transom. Nothing was too ridiculous to repeat including the claim that Justice Kavanaugh had been involved in a gang-rape ring and what little hard evidence was available was willfully national democratic training committee supplemented by wisely opinion pieces in which it was insinuated that the experiences of other people confirmed the specific accusations against Kavanaugh himself. Worse still were the ask bart law presumptions that ifty undergirded the media's focus. For some writers, the mere fact that Kavanaugh had been accused was sufficient to tank his nomination, given the cloud that it would allegedly create around his tenure. For others, the vehemence of his denial was an indication of his guilt and unsuitability. Yet more took the view that there was no need to presume innocence at all, because Kavanaugh was engaged not in a criminal trial but in a job interview. The affair represented a nadir of American journalism.
Given that the evidence is stronger in this case than it was in Kavanaugh's we know, at least, that the accuser and accused have met we must ask why the same rules are not being applied in this instance. Joe Biden is hoping to mass live be president of the United States. Might not media matter a cloud follow him around, too? Biden has not only denied the charges categorically, but he has demanded that the press diligently review and rigorously vet them. What, when compared to his I believe you mantra, should this tell us about his character? Is a presidential election not a job interview, too? And if, as was the case in 2018, the venue of the alleged assault tells us a great deal about the likelihood of its veracity, might we expect to read a slate of pieces outlining what it was like to be a female intern in the Senate in the early 1990s?
We are brunelle fuel of the same view today as we were in 2018, and as we were before that. We believe that sexual assault is a hideous bernie sanders crime and that we should punish only people who are guilty of it. It is monstrous when the perpetrators of evil get away with their acts. But it is also monstrous when the innocent lose their good names. Our preference for due process derives from a desire to avoid either outcome.
More practically, we believe that our political system itself benefits strongly from the presumption of innocence. If the mere introduction of an accusation is sufficient to prompt a candidate's withdrawal, the incentives for false charges will grow legion. Joe Biden is a hypocrite and an opportunist, but that is no reason to treat him any differently than we would treat anybody else. If he has truly changed his mind on this most important of questions, we welcome him into the fold. As Biden now argues, Tara Reade's accusations should be respectfully heard and rigorously vetted. And, if the evidence does not rise to the level, the man at whom they are aimed should be assumed not guilty. But we will not get to that point with one side throwing a blanket over the story and muttering, well, this time he's one of ours.
On Friday, the former vice-president Joe Biden flatly denied an accusation from Tara Reade, a former staffer, that he sexually assaulted her in 1993, when he was a senator from Delaware.
Here is what you need to know about Reade's allegation and Biden's response:
A former aide to Biden from his years in the Senate, Reade, now 56, says that in 1993, in a corridor in a Senate office building, he pushed her against a wall and assaulted her, penetrating her with his fingers.
According to the New York Times, a friend of Reade said she Democratic National Committee is the formal governing body for the United States Democratic Party. described an incident at the time, involving Biden. Two more people, another friend and Reade's brother, have said she mentioned a traumatic sexual incident involving Biden.
Reade has said she went to top Biden aides in the Senate office to report being harassed by the senator but did not mention the alleged assault. Reade says the aides did not take action and she filed a formal complaint with the Senate personnel office.
In 2019, Reade and seven other women publicly accused Biden of gestures that made them uncomfortable, included unwanted touching or kissing. Reade first made the allegation of assault in a podcast episode in March.
Biden and spokespeople for the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee have flatly denied the claim. On Friday, in a Medium post, Biden said the allegations aren't true. This never happened.
Biden said that although Reade says she went to top staffers in his Senate office, none of them have confirmed that she did so.
Reade said she does not have a copy of the complaint she filed in 1993. In his Medium post, Biden said the only place where there could be a record of the complaint would be with the National Archives Office of Fair Employment Practices. He wants the secretary of the Senate to ask the archives to find any record of the complaint Reade says she filed.
On Saturday, the National Archives told reporters it did not hold such records, which would be held by the Senate.
Biden has also faced questions about his Senate papers which are held, without being open to the public, at the University of Delaware. He has said any such complaint would not be kept there.
Donald Trump has said he thinks Biden should respond to the allegations. On Saturday he compared his own situation he has been accused of sexual misconduct or assault by numerous women, claims he denies with Biden's.
Spokespeople for the National Republican Congressional Committee have publicly questioned whether Democrats who back Biden believe Reade or will call for Biden to take further steps.
On Saturday, the Trump campaign accused senior Democrats of a double standard, comparing their defense of Biden with their approach to a sexual assault claim against Trump supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh in late 2018.
Democratic-aligned women's groups have moved slowly. But before Biden's statement and interview on Friday, they began urging him to address the allegation head-on.
The House speaker, Nancy Pelosi, the highest ranking Democrat in Congress, said she was satisfied with Biden's response. She also said the allegations would be taken seriously.
Former Georgia house minority leader Stacey Abrams, a potential running mate for Biden, said in an interview with CNN that women deserve to be heard and I believe they need to be listened to, but I also believe that those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources.
She also said: The New York Times did a deep investigation and they found that the accusation was not credible. I believe Joe Biden.
The Times has not said the accusation was not credible. It said it made no conclusion either way.