Joe Biden sexual assault allegation

"Tara Reade" redirects here. For the actress, see Tara Reid.

Tara Reade, circa 1993

In March 2020, Tara Reade alleged that former U.S. senator and 2020 presidential candidate Joe Biden sexually assaulted her when she was a staff assistant of his in 1993. In April 2019, The Union newspaper published an interview with Reade where she alleged Biden touched her neck and shoulder. In April 2020, Reade alleged that she had told Biden's Senate staff about harassment by Biden.

Biden has denied the allegation and the former Senate staff named by Reade said they did not receive complaints from Reade.

Background

From December 1992 to August 1993, Tara Reade, then 29, was a staff assistant in Joe Biden's Senate office with responsibilities such as supervision of the office's interns and mail delivery. Also known as Alexandra Tara Reade, she is a writer from Nevada County, California, who helps run nonprofit organizations. She earned a law degree from Seattle University School of Law but has not practiced law.

In 2009, Reade attributed her past departure from Washington, D.C. to moving to the Midwestern United States with a boyfriend. In 2018, she wrote that she departed Washington, D.C. to become an actress and artiste, due to being disillusioned with the American government's "xenophobia" towards Russia.

2019 allegations

In April 2019, Reade was one of eight women who came forward with stories of inappropriate physical contact from Joe Biden. She told part of her story to a local newspaper, The Union. In the article, Reade alleged that first, her supervisor had informed her that Biden wanted her to "serve drinks at a event" because he thought she was "pretty" and also "liked" her legs, but a senior aide intervened to stop Reade from having to do so, causing an argument among the staff. Reade secondly alleged that after that, Biden would "often" place his hand on her shoulder and run his index finger up the back of her neck. Reade felt that "these gestures were not so much about ‘connection’ but establishing dominance in the room." Reade thirdly alleged that "things at the office got hard for me and it was obvious I was going to be forced out with legitimate or not so legitimate reasons." Reade fourthly alleged that a staffer for Senator Ted Kennedy tried to intervene, while Senate personnel refused to help despite Reade's request. Reade fifthly alleged that she was fired: her stint "ended because some prominent Senator decided that he liked my legs." She lastly stated that Biden had not apologised, and because of the chief of staff's practice of filtering unpleasant news from reaching Biden, "I do not even know if he realized why I left."

Reade said she spoke out after watching an episode of The View, during which she says most of the panelists defended Biden and attacked Lucy Flores, the former assemblywoman who alleged that Biden kissed the back of her head without consent. According to The Intercept in March 2020, Reade feared coming forward with her full story of sexual assault, and "went silent" after receiving harassment online related to the allegation. However, she "thought about the world she wanted her daughter to live in and decided that she wanted to continue telling her story".

Time's Up

In January 2020, Reade again decided to come forward, and sought help from Time's Up Legal Defense Fund. Spokespersons for Time's Up stated that they "informed Ms. Reade of [its] inability to fund legal and PR fees for her due to [its] 501(c)(3) status" which restricts it "in how it can spend its funds, including restrictions that pertain to candidates running for election". Time's Up provided Reade with a list of attorneys that she could reach out to. Reade reports that she contacted all of them, but none agreed to take the case.

Allegation of sexual assault

In a March 25, 2020 interview with Katie Halper, Reade alleged that Biden had pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers, stating: "Do you want to go somewhere else?" Reade later told NPR for an April 19, 2020 article, "His hands went underneath my clothing and he was touching me in my private areas and without my consent." Reade told The New York Times for an April 12, 2020 article that when she pulled away from Biden, he looked puzzled and said, "Come on, man, I heard you liked me." She then recounted that he told her: "You're nothing to me, nothing," followed by "You’re OK, you're fine." Reade told NPR she could not remember the exact place or date of the incident, stating it was likely a basement of a Senate office building in the spring of 1993.

Reade told The New York Times that after the penetration incident, she had complained about harassment to three of Biden's aides (Marianne Baker, Dennis Toner, and Ted Kaufman) but did not mention the assault. She said this did nothing, so she wrote a complaint to a Senate personnel office. She said her office duties were reduced, and she was later fired by Kaufman. In blog posts in January and April 2020, she wrote that no one in Washington, D.C. wanted to hire her after her firing.

Addressing why she made her allegation public, Reade said during her March interview, "I'm hoping by coming forward with this—and I know it's hard to listen to, and it's hard to live in it, right? But my justice now, the only justice I can have, is to be moving freely in the world and to heal and not be silenced." On April 9, she filed a police report with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department alleging she was sexually assaulted in the spring of 1993. NPR reported that a record of the police report named Biden as the assailant. The Washington Metropolitan Police said on April 25 that her complaint is an inactive case. She acknowledged that the statute of limitations has lapsed, and she stated that she filed the report "for safety reasons only."

Responses

By Biden

Biden addressed the allegation in May 2020, stating: "This never happened." He called for the media to "examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in her story, which has changed repeatedly in both small and big ways." He also requested that the Secretary of the Senate ask the National Archives to identify and make available to the press any record of the complaint that Reade claims she filed.

With regard Biden's stance toward such claims historically, he said, "From the beginning, I’ve said believing a woman means taking the women’s claim seriously when she steps forward. And then vet it. Look into it. That’s true in this case as well. Women have a right to be heard, and the press should investigate claims they make. I will always uphold that principle. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. In this case, the truth is: The claims are false."

By other involved parties

Earlier in March 2020, a deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, said, "Vice President Biden 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."

In an April 12 The New York Times article, Reade had named three aides that she asserted she complained about harassment by Biden (but not sexual assault). In the same article, these three aides denied Reade's assertion. First, Ted Kaufman, Biden's chief of staff at the time, said: "I did not know her. She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her." Second, former deputy chief of staff, Dennis Toner, said "It's just so preposterous that Senator Biden would be faced with these allegations. I don’t remember her. I don’t remember this conversation. And I would remember this conversation." Third, Biden's campaign released a statement from Marianne Baker, Biden's former executive assistant: "I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period — not from Ms. Reade, not from anyone. 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 as a manager.

Investigations

The New York Times' investigative reporting

On April 12, The New York Times released an analysis of its investigative reporting in which it interviewed Reade, several of her friends, lawyers, nearly two dozen people who worked with Biden in the early 1990s, and seven women who accused him of kissing, hugging, or touching them in ways that had made them feel uncomfortable. It said it found no other allegations of sexual assault in the course of its reporting. Several of the seven women said that they believed her, but had no new knowledge about the incident. Two friends reported to The New York Times that she had told them of the alleged assault (one in 1993 shortly after the alleged assault took place, the other in 2008). Her brother said she had previously told him.

Biden's Senate Chief of Staff and Deputy Chief of Staff during 1992–1993 and the office's long-term executive assistant expressed doubts as to the veracity of Reade's account, saying they would have recalled the complaints had she made them, and that such behavior seemed uncharacteristic of him. Melissa Lefko, a contemporary staff assistant, said she had never experienced harassment and thought his office was a "very supportive environment for women." Reade said she reported sexual harassment to her supervisors in Biden's office at the time, but her recollection of to whom has shifted and none of her former supervisors recall any such event.

The Times later published another story about the allegation, which included a statement that the Biden campaign released talking points that mischaracterized its earlier investigation. The Times reiterated that it "made no conclusion either way".

Biden senatorial records

Reade requested all records, including human resource records, from Biden’s senate terms be released. The Editorial Board of the Washington Post also wrote that the records should be released. As of May 30, 2020, Biden's campaign has refused to allow the opening up of the Senate papers, but sent people to review those documents. On a May 1, 2020 interview with MSNBC, Biden called for a search through the National Archives to find any records related to Reade, but refused to unseal any Delaware records.

Media coverage

On March 28, The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi wrote an op-ed: "Why has the media ignored sexual assault allegations against Biden?" She expressed that it is frustrating to see conservatives "weaponize the accusations" and liberals "turning a blind eye". The editorial board of The Washington Post published an op-ed on April 29, that called on him to directly respond, saying "Tara Reade deserves to be heard, and voters deserve to hear her. They deserve to hear from Joe Biden, too."

The New York Times was criticized by several commentators who said it delayed coverage of the allegation and argued its coverage differed from reporting on other allegations in the past. Its executive editor, Dean Baquet, published an op-ed on April 13, responding to these criticisms. Baquet responded to a controversy about a line in the news story that was removed after the piece's initial publication. The sentence previously read: "The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable." Baquet explained that it had been included originally in order not to falsely imply that other individuals had made allegations as invasive in nature as Reade's, but was thereafter removed because of "awkward phrasing issue that could be read different ways." Baquet stated that the edit was made after the Biden campaign had objected to it because "[it] made it look like there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual misconduct."

On April 28, Lynda LaCasse told CNN that Reade had told her about the alleged assault by Biden, "...in the mid-1990s". Identified in the CNN story as Lynda LaCasse, her statement "... marks the first detailed and on-the-record corroboration of Reade's allegation against the presumptive Democratic nominee for president." The same CNN story also included an interview with one of Reade's friends, who wished to remain anonymous. "Reade told her in detail," according to CNN, "that she had been sexually assaulted by Biden on Capitol Hill. The friend said she believes Reade called her within days of the alleged assault."

Collin Moulton, Reade's brother, initially told The Washington Post that she told him in 1993 that Biden had touched her neck and shoulders. He said there was "a gym bag incident", and that Biden "was inappropriate". Several days after that interview, Moulton texted the Post that Reade in the early 1990s told him Biden put his hand "under her clothes." Moulton was also interviewed by ABC News, which he told Reade told him about "harassment at work" by Biden, but only heard about the assault in 2020. Hours after the interview, he added he had heard from Reade in 1993 that Biden had "more or less cornered her against the wall" and "put his hands up her clothes".

As of April 30, no mainstream television news network had interviewed Reade, a development referred to as "strange" by the New York Times. "There’s still no clear explanation, however, for why Ms. Reade hasn’t been on mainstream TV. Representatives for CNN and MSNBC declined to explain why they haven’t booked a woman who is, whether you believe her or not, one of the few newsmakers right now who could cut through the pandemic." The story went on to point out that normally, networks would be "competing intensely" for an on-camera interview.

Reactions

Joan Walsh, writing in The Nation, said the allegation "doesn't stand up to close scrutiny". NPR noted that she changed her story over time and that some of the details she provided have been "inconsistent", citing the fact that in 2019 she did not mention sexual assault, but only harassment. She said she did not share her full allegation when she initially came forward because, in part, she "just didn't have the courage", and that after publicly alleging that he had touched her inappropriately, she said she received death threats and a "wave of criticism" and was doxed.

On April 14, in an online conversation with The Wing, U.S. Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez said that it was legitimate to discuss this allegation.

Katie Halper, who had interviewed Reade, denied the story changed, writing in the The Guardian, "in fact Reade provided more details over time, something that is common among survivors of sexual assault." In response to similar claims from Amanda Marcotte of Salon regarding inconsistencies in Reade's account, Nathan J. Robinson of Current Affairs mentioned that he had talked to Reade extensively and that she was "completely consistent". He said "gradually opening up about the parts of your story that are the most difficult to tell is very different from altering it", and that it is "how survivors tell stories".

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a national co-chair of Biden's campaign, said, "I think women should be able to tell their stories. I think that it is important that these allegations are vetted." U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand said she stands by him, and does not see a contradiction between how Democratic legislators addressed this allegation and those of Christine Blasey Ford.

U.S. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi voiced strong support for Biden, calling him a "a person of great integrity", while acknowledging her support for the Me Too movement.

External links

• Statement by Vice President Joe Biden

Multimedia

• Halper, Katie (March 30, 2020). "Biden accuser: "I wanted to be a senator; I didn't want to sleep with one" (audio)". Katie Halper podcast.
• Krystal Ball (March 26, 2020). "Tara Reade discusses Biden allegation with Hill.TV's Rising". The Hill (video interview). Rising.
• Larry King (August 11, 1993). Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth? (video which includes a call from a San Luis Obispo, California, woman about daughter's departure from job working for an unnamed U.S. Senator). Larry King Live. CNN. Archived from the original on April 24, 2020.