Joe Biden responds to Tara Reade sexual assault allegations: ‘They aren’t true. This never happened’

Joe Biden on Friday categorically denied the sexual assault allegation threatening to disrupt his presidential campaign in a statement released ahead of an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the first time the Democratic contender addressed the accusation personally. 

Citing “the full and growing record of inconsistencies” in the accusations against him, Biden said: “They aren’t true. This never happened.” 

The statement comes just minutes before the former vice president and lawmaker is expected to address the sexual assault allegation against him made by Tara Reade, a former Senate aide who claims that Biden assaulted her in 1993 when she worked in his office, on television. 

Biden’s campaign has unequivocally denied the allegation, but pressure had been mounting for the candidate to address the claim himself.

Reade shook up Biden’s presidential campaign in March when she claimed on a podcast that Biden pinned her to a wall and used his fingers to penetrate her in an office building on Capitol Hill. 

Reade’s brother and a former neighbor have said that Reade discussed details of the alleged assault with them in the 1990s. Several individuals who worked in the Senate office at the time have said that Reade’s allegations do not square with their experience working for Biden. 

Reade has said she filed a written complaint at the time, though it has not yet been located. Many of the records from Biden’s senate office remain under seal at the University of Delaware until Biden retires from public life. In his Friday statement, Biden said the archive does not contain personnel files.

“There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be – the National Archives. The National Archives is where the records are kept at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices,” the statement said.

Biden said he had requested that the “Secretary of the Senate ask the Archives to identify any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document. If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.”

Amid Biden’s silence on the issue, a number of his potential running mates, including Sens. Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, have expressed support for him. 

Conservatives have accused Democrats of a double standard when it comes to assault allegations, pointing to the different reaction allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh received when the Trump appointee was accused of sexual assault during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2018. Kavanaugh denied those allegations. 

President Donald Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by a number of women, told reporters on Thursday that Biden should address Reade’s claim, but noted that “it could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations.” Trump has been caught on tape bragging about grabbing women between their legs. 

The Morning Joe interview is expected to begin around 8 a.m. ET. 

Article source: https://www.cnbc.com/2020/05/01/joe-biden-to-break-silence-on-tara-reade-sexual-assault-allegation.html