This article is from the source 'guardian' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.

You can find the current article at its original source at https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/may/01/joe-biden-denies-sexual-assault-allegation-tara-reade-statement

The article has changed 5 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.

Version 0 Version 1
Joe Biden denies sexual assault allegation from former staffer Tara Reade Joe Biden denies sexual assault allegation from former staffer Tara Reade
(about 3 hours later)
Statement calls for National Archives to release records as former vice-president speaks to MSNBC Biden says in interview ‘it never, never happened’ after last month Reade came forward to accuse him of sexually assaulting her in 1993
Joe Biden has emphatically denied a sexual assault allegation, in his first public comment on the accusation since it emerged weeks ago. Joe Biden has categorically denied allegations from a former Senate aide that he sexually assaulted her in 1993, breaking weeks of silence on a controversy that has roiled his White House campaign.
“I recognize my responsibility to be a voice, an advocate, and a leader for the change in culture that has begun but is nowhere near finished,” the former vice-president said in a lengthy statement, ahead of a planned appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe talk show. The presumptive Democratic nominee’s first public comment on the allegation came at a delicate moment for his campaign, as he attempts to ease frustration from some in his party.
“So I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago: they aren’t true. This never happened.” “I recognize my responsibility to be a voice, an advocate, and a leader for the change in culture that has begun but is nowhere near finished,” Biden wrote in a Medium post published on Friday morning.
Tara Reade came forward last month to accuse Biden of sexually assaulting her in the basement of Capitol Hill office complex when she worked in his Senate office in the spring of 1993. “So I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren’t true. This never happened.”
Biden’s campaign has forcefully denied the allegation, but the candidate had not commented directly. In the statement, Biden said he would ask the National Archives to make public any record of a complaint that his accuser, Tara Reade, says she filed at the time. Biden said the record of the document would be kept at the Archives, and not at the University of Delaware, where his Senate papers are not open to the public.
In the statement, Biden asked the National Archives to release and make public any record of a complaint that Reade says she filed at the time. Biden said the record of the document would be kept at the National Archives, and not at the University of Delaware, where his Senate papers are housed and not open to the public. “I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” Biden said in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.
Biden has faced mounting calls from some Democrats to make a public statement, even as the party’s leadership stands behind him. Reade came forward publicly last month to accuse Biden of sexually assaulting her in the basement of Capitol Hill office complex in the spring of 1993, when he was a senator from Delaware.
Nancy Pelosi, the House speaker, on Thursday stressed her support for Biden’s nomination while Republicans seized the opportunity to attack Biden and his record ahead of a general election against Donald Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by more than a dozen women, all of which he has denied. His campaign had denied the allegation, but Biden had not yet addressed it despite participating in TV interviews, virtual town halls and donor events.
“We need to make putting an end to gender-based violence in both the United States and around the world a top priority,” he said. “I started my work over 25 years ago with the passage of the Violence Against Women Act. As president, I’m committed to finishing the job.” Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski repeatedly asked Biden if he would authorize a search of his Senate papers as a matter of transparency. He declined, insisting that the records would only be found at the National Archives, and saying he was confident no such complaint existed.
Republicans have begun to weaponize Reade’s story, in hope of weakening him in a general election against Donald Trump, who himself faces accusations of sexual assault and misconduct from more than a dozen women.
The race between Biden and Trump will be the first presidential election of the #MeToo era, which has ended the careers of powerful men in politics, entertainment, sports and the media.
Brzezinski also pressed Biden on the apparent discrepancy between his remarks in support of Dr Christine Blasey Ford, who accused Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault during his supreme court confirmation hearings.
Then, Biden said that “it takes enormous courage for a woman to come forward under bright lights, with millions of people watching, and relive something that happened to her”. Ford, he said, “should be given the benefit of the doubt and not be, you know, abused again by the system”.
Biden said on Friday his position was consistent. Women who come forward deserve “to start off with the presumption that they are telling the truth”, he said.
“Then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts and the facts in this case do not exist. They never happened.”
Democrats are aware of the importance of women voters in the November election. Women are among Trump’s fiercest critics and have organized, voted and run for office in record numbers since his election to office.
Biden pointed to his policy record and advocacy around ending sexual assault, as the author of the Violence Against Women Act, and his work while vice-president on combatting sexual assault on college campuses.
“I have spent my career learning from women the ways in which we as individuals and as policy makers need to step up to make their hard jobs easier, with equal pay, equal opportunity and workplaces and homes free from violence and harassment,” Biden said in his statement.
“That has been a constant through my career, and as president, that work will continue.”
Biden has also faced renewed scrutiny over his handling of Anita Hill’s testimony during the supreme court nomination of Clarence Thomas, who she accused of sexual harassment, in the 1990s. Before Biden launched his campaign, eight women accused him of touching them or displaying affection in ways that made them uncomfortable. Reade was among them.
She did not come forward with her accusation of sexual assault, however, until this year, when she told the leftwing podcast host Katie Halper that Biden allegedly pinned her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers.
Those alleged events were presented to Biden on Morning Joe. He denied them.
“I’m not going to question her motive,” he said. “I’m not going to get into that at all.
“I don’t know why she’s saying this. I don’t know why after 27 years all of the sudden this gets raised. I don’t understand it.
“But I’m not going to go in and question her motive. I’m not going to attack her. She has a right to say whatever she wants to say but I have a right to say, ‘Look at the facts, check it out.’”