Joe Biden sexual assault allegation: Difference between revisions

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[[File:Tara Reade (cropped, color cast removed).png|thumb|right|Tara Reade, circa 1993]]
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In March 2020, Tara Reade alleged that then-U.S. Senator [[Joe Biden]] sexually assaulted her in a [[Capitol Hill]] office building when she was a staff assistant in his office in 1993. Her accusation garnered a denial from the presidential candidate's spokesperson.
In March 2020, Tara Reade alleged that then-U.S. Senator [[Joe Biden]] sexually assaulted her in a [[Capitol Hill]] office building when she was a staff assistant in his office in 1993. Her accusation garnered a denial from the presidential candidate's spokesperson.


Revision as of 17:51, 29 April 2020

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

Tara Reade, circa 1993

In March 2020, Tara Reade alleged that then-U.S. Senator Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in a Capitol Hill office building when she was a staff assistant in his office in 1993. Her accusation garnered a denial from the presidential candidate's spokesperson.

Background

At age twenty-nine, Tara Reade was a staff assistant in the office of then Senator Joe Biden from December 1992 to August 1993 with responsibilities such as supervision of the office's interns and mail delivery.[1] Also known as Alexandra Tara Reade,[2][3] she is a writer[4] from Nevada County, California,[2] who helps run non-profit organizations.[1][5][6] She earned a law degree from Seattle University School of Law but has not practiced law.[1][5]

April 2019 essay in The Union

In early April 2019, Reade contacted a reporter for The Union, a local newspaper in Grass Valley, California, and alleged that Biden touched her inappropriately while she worked in his office. Biden was a U.S. senator from Delaware from 1973 to 2009, and Vice President of the U.S. from 2009 to 2017. Reade made the allegation after watching an episode of the The View on April 1, 2019, in which Nevada politician Lucy Flores had alleged that Biden sniffed her hair and kissed the back of her head shortly before a political rally in 2014.[7][8] She further stated that she believed she was fired from Biden's office because she had refused to serve drinks at an event, and that she believed being fired from Biden's office had ruined her career in Washington, D.C.[8] The Union subsequently published an essay by Reade on April 17, 2019, in which she described her encounter with Biden and wrote: "...this is not a story about sexual misconduct; it is a story about abuse of power."[2] Reade added, "Sen. Biden would touch me on the shoulder or hold his hand on my shoulder running his index finger up my neck during a meeting … What started with promise and possibility, ended because some prominent Senator decided that he liked my legs and objectified me."[2]

In January–February 2020, Reade sought help regarding the elements of her allegations from Time's Up Legal Defense Fund.[9] The Fund ultimately declined to assist Reade, having determined that as a non-profit it is legally constrained from doing so because of Internal Revenue Service restrictions that pertain to candidates running for election.[7][10]

Allegation

In March 2020, Reade alleged that Biden had pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers in a Capitol Hill office building in 1993.[3] Reade made the allegation in an interview with Katie Halper which was released as a podcast on March 25, 2020. Reade later told NPR, "His hands went underneath my clothing and he was touching me in my private areas and without my consent." She said that when she pulled away, Biden looked puzzled and said, "Come on, man, I heard you liked me," then told her that "You're nothing to me, nothing."[11]

Addressing what her objective was for making her allegation public, Reade said during the 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."[1] On April 9, 2020, she filed a police report with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department alleging she was sexually assaulted in spring 1993.[11][12] NPR confirmed that a record of the police report named Biden as the assailant. NPR also noted that Reade has changed her story over time and that some of the details she has provided have been "inconsistent".[11] Reade acknowledged that the statute of limitations has lapsed, and she stated that she filed the report "for safety reasons only."[13][14] According to Reade, she did not share her full allegation when she initially came forward in 2019 because, in part, she "just didn't have the courage",[10] and that after publicly alleging in 2019 that Biden had touched her inappropriately, she said she received death threats and a "wave of criticism"[13] and was doxed.[15]

Denial

A deputy campaign manager for Biden, 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."[13] Joe Biden himself has not spoken on the allegation, and Bedingfield's statement is the sole public comment on the matter.[16]

Biden's campaign has circulated a memo amongst top Democratic supporters to deny the allegation and unify the Democratic Party.[16] Part of the memo read:[16]

Here’s the bottom line. Vice President Joe Biden has spent over 40 years in public life: 36 years in the Senate; 7 Senate campaigns, 2 previous presidential runs, two vice presidential campaigns, and 8 years in the White House. There has never been a complaint, allegation, hint or rumor of any impropriety or inappropriate conduct like this regarding him — ever.

Developments

The New York Times' investigative reporting

On April 12, 2020, 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 Biden 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 Reade but had no new knowledge about the incident.[13] Two friends of Reade confirmed 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).

Reade's brother has also stated that she had told him about it,[13] initially saying that Reade told him that Biden had touched her neck and shoulders, but several days later he told The Washington Post that he also remembered that she had said that Biden had reached "under her clothes."[17] The brother also initially told ABC News that his involvement in the case was "peripheral" and that he only remembered Reade telling him about "harassment at work" from Biden, and that he had only heard the allegations of the assault in Spring of 2020. Later he texted ABC News to "clarify" that he did remembered being told the details of the allegation back in 1993.[18]

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 Reade's complaints about Biden's conduct had she made them. They also said that the alleged behavior would have been out of character for Biden. Melissa Lefko, another staff assistant for Biden during that time period, told the reporters that she had never experienced harassment and that in her opinion, Biden's office was a "very supportive environment for women."[13]

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.[19] Reade's former colleague Lorraine Sanchez also said that Reade told her in 1995 or 1996 that Reade "had been sexually harassed by her former boss while she was in DC, and as a result of her voicing her concerns to her supervisors, she was let go, fired." Sanchez said she did not recall if Reade provided details about the alleged sexual harassment or named Biden.[20] BuzzFeed News wrote that The New York Times investigation did not conclude that the allegations were false, despite Biden's campaign using the story as proof that Reade's allegations "did not happen."[16]

Larry King Live phone call

On April 24, 2020, an unidentified source who heard Katie Halper's interview with The Intercept's Ryan Grim sent Grim a video of an August 11, 1993 phone call to Larry King Live in which a woman asks: "I'm wondering what a staffer might do besides go to the press in Washington. 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."[21][22] Reade told The Intercept that it was her mother's voice on the call.[21]

Statements from former neighbor and friend

On April 27, 2020, Business Insider reported that Reade's former neighbor Lynda LaCasse said that Reade told her about the alleged assault in 1995 or 1996, saying that "This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it." In the article, LaCasse did not mention Biden by name but did say, "I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him."[20] On April 28, LaCasse told CNN that Reade had told her about the alleged assault by Biden "in the mid-1990s". According to CNN, her statement "marks the first detailed and on-the-record corroboration of Reade's allegation against the presumptive Democratic nominee for president."[23] LaCasse told The Washington Post that she spoke to Reade before she went public, but noted that Reade "didn’t really ask me to come forward."[24]

CNN interviewed another one of Reade's friends, who wished to remain anonymous. According to CNN, "Reade told her in detail 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."[23]

Media coverage

Joan Walsh, writing in The Nation, said that Reade's "allegation against Biden doesn't stand up to close scrutiny".[19] On March 28, 2020, 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 against Biden" and "to see so many liberals turning a blind eye" to Reade's allegation.[25][26]

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.[27] Its executive editor, Dean Baquet, published an op-ed on April 13, 2020, responding to these criticisms.[28][15][27][29] 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."[30] 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."[29]

References

  1. ^ a b c d Halper, Katie (March 31, 2020). "Tara Reade Tells Her Story". Current Affairs. Retrieved April 9, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  2. ^ a b c d Reade, Alexandra Tara (April 18, 2020). "Alexandra Tara Reade: A girl walks into the Senate". The Union. Grass Valley, California. Retrieved April 18, 2020.
  3. ^ a b Marcotte, Amanda (March 31, 2020). "A woman accuses Joe Biden of sexual assault, and all hell breaks loose online. Here's what we know". Salon. Retrieved April 15, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  4. ^ Young, Cathy (April 17, 2020). "If Joe Biden wants due process in his sexual assault case, he should back it for others". USA TODAY.
  5. ^ a b Larsen, Emily (April 15, 2020). "Everything we know about the Biden sexual assault allegation". Washington Examiner. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  6. ^ "Alexandra Tara Reade - Home". April 4, 2019. Archived from the original on April 4, 2019.
  7. ^ a b Grim, Ryan (March 24, 2020). "Time's Up Said It Could Not Fund a #MeToo Allegation Against Joe Biden, Citing Its Nonprofit Status and His Presidential Run". The Intercept. Retrieved April 9, 2020.
  8. ^ a b Riquelmy, Alan (April 3, 2019). "Nevada County woman says Joe Biden inappropriately touched her while working in his U.S. Senate office". The Union. Grass Valley, California. Retrieved April 17, 2019.
  9. ^ Da Silva, Chantal (March 27, 2020). "Joe Biden's sexual assault accuser wants to be able to speak out without fear of "powerful men"". Newsweek.
  10. ^ a b Otterbein, Holly (April 23, 2020). "Biden sexual assault allegation roils #MeToo movement". Politico.
  11. ^ a b c Khalid, Asma (April 19, 2020). "On The Record: A Former Biden Staffer's Sexual Assault Allegation". NPR. Retrieved April 19, 2020.
  12. ^ Vitali, Ali; Memoli, Mike (April 12, 2020). "Woman broadens claims against Biden to include sexual assault". NBC News. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  13. ^ a b c d e f Lerer, Lisa; Ember, Sydney (April 12, 2020). "Examining Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden". The New York Times. Retrieved April 12, 2020.
  14. ^ Mangan, Dan (April 14, 2020). "Joe Biden is accused of sexual assault as he heads toward election fight with Trump". CNBC. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  15. ^ a b Cauterucci, Christina (April 13, 2020). "Joe Biden Sails Under the New York Times' Bar for Sexual Abuse". Slate. Retrieved April 26, 2020.
  16. ^ a b c d Caramer, Ruby; Gray, Rosie (April 28, 2020). "Democrats Will Have To Answer Questions About Tara Reade. The Biden Campaign Is Advising Them To Say Her Story "Did Not Happen."". BuzzFeed News. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  17. ^ Ruth, Marcus (April 15, 2020). "Assessing Tara Reade's allegations". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  18. ^ [1]
  19. ^ a b Walsh, Joan (April 15, 2020). "The Troublesome Tara Reade Story". The Nation. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  20. ^ a b McHugh, Rich (April 27, 2020). "A former neighbor of Joe Biden's accuser Tara Reade has come forward to corroborate her sexual assault account, saying Reade discussed the allegations in detail in the mid-1990s". Business Insider. Retrieved April 27, 2020.
  21. ^ a b Grim, Ryan (April 24, 2020). "New Evidence Supporting Credibility of Tara Reade's Allegation Against Joe Biden Emerges". The Intercept. Retrieved April 24, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  22. ^ Kalmbacher, Colin (April 24, 2020). "New Evidence Appears to Corroborate Tara Reade's Sexual Assault Claim Against Joe Biden (VIDEO)". Law&Crime. Archived from the original on April 25, 2020. Retrieved April 25, 2020.
  23. ^ a b Lee, MJ. "Tara Reade's ex-neighbor says Reade told her about Joe Biden sexual assault allegation in the 1990s". CNN. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  24. ^ Matt Viser (April 27, 2020). "Trump allies highlight new claims regarding allegations against Biden". The Washington Post. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  25. ^ "Joe Biden: the sexual assault claim dividing Democrats". The Week. April 16, 2020. Retrieved April 16, 2020.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  26. ^ Mahdawi, Arwa (March 28, 2020). "Why has the media ignored sexual assault and misbehaviour allegations against Biden?". The Guardian. Retrieved April 16, 2020.
  27. ^ a b Ecarma, Caleb (April 14, 2020). "The Media Floodgates Finally Open on Biden Sexual Assault Allegation". Vanity Fair. Retrieved April 17, 2020.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  28. ^ Tobin, Jonathan S. (April 14, 2020). "The New York Times Denies Tara Reade the Christine Blasey Ford Treatment". National Review. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  29. ^ a b Smith, Ben (April 13, 2020). "The Times Took 19 Days to Report an Accusation Against Biden. Here's Why". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved April 15, 2020.
  30. ^ Swanson, Ian (April 14, 2020). "NY Times faces blowback for removal of controversial passage on Biden sexual assault allegation". The Hill. Retrieved April 15, 2020.

External links

Multimedia
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