Appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” today, 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden and presumptive Democrat nominee Joe Biden denied that he accosted, force-kissed and digitally raped 49-year-old former aide Tara Reade. Reade went public with her allegations of sexual abuse by Biden April 9, 2019 with eight others women claiming Biden inappropriately touched them, making them feel uncomfortable, believing it was sexual harassment. Then Reade was interviewed March 25, 2020 on Katie Halper’s podcast given great detail about a 1993 incident while working with Biden in his Senate office as a 22-year-old aide. Reade told Halper she was pushed up against a wall in the basement of Biden’s Senate office building, propositioned, force kissed and penetrated with Joe’s fingers while he reached under her skirt. Former Obama administration associates were ready to dismiss the allegation.
Biden recently received the endorsement of Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), who blasted former Mayor Michael Bloomberg at the Feb. 1 at a Las Vegas debate, accusing him of sexually harassing women for complimenting their appearance. Warren had no problems endorsing Joe for president, knowing she’s on his short-list for VP. Former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton did the same thing endorsing Joe April 28, mentioning nothing about Reade’s allegation. Hillary was famous in 1998 for telling the press sexual allegation about her husband, forer President Bill Clinton, were the product of a “vast right wing conspiracy.” Former presidential candidate Sen. Amy Klobushar (D-Minn.) and Sen. Kersten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) also endorsed Biden without reservations. All refused to consider Reade’s allegation as potentially a disqualifying event.
Former Obama administration aide Tin Tchen, president and CEO of TIME”S UP was satisfied with Joe’s response today on “Morning Joe.” “Today, Vice President Joe Biden sat down and directly addressed the allegation against him and with the seriousness it deserves, something the current president has never done,” said Tchen, taking a shot at 73-year-old President Donald Trump. Trump was asked about Reade’s allegation against Biden yesterday at his daily coronavirus briefing. Trump said he knew nothing about it, saying it could be false charges, something he’s dealt with in the past. But if you ask Tchen, Biden’s in the clear but Trump isn’t. Tchen isn’t taking Reade’s allegation seriously, accepting Biden’s statements when Reade has corroborating witnesses for her story. Democrats tried and convicted Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh when confronted with 35-year-old attempted rape allegations.
Asked today on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” if Reade’s allegations were true, Biden denied them. “No, it is not true,” Biden said. “I am saying unequivocally it never happened, never happened and it didn’t. It never happened,” Biden said, in a bizarre response. What never happened? Biden said “it” never happened leaving, anyone following the words to wonder what never happened. He never pushed Reade up against a wall? He never forced kissed her? He never reached under her skirt? He never put his fingers in her vagina.” Where’s the denial? What never happened? Bidem used some cleverly phrased words to deny Reade’s allegation but he’s not calling for an independent investigation or lie detector tests. He simply said that Reade’s statement is not the way he remembered it. Biden says that women should be believed, just not in his case. “They should start off with the presumption that they’re telling the truth,” Biden said, then it must be looked into.
Biden set himself up for what’s coming next. “Then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts. And the facts in this case do not exist,” Biden said but not asking for an independent investigation. Biden’s asking for everyone to believe him, having nothing to do with the facts. If Reade has corroborating witnesses, was fired from her job with Biden in 1993 because she complained about sexual harassment, those are facts that can be determined, not Biden’s word. Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y,) called the allegations “serious,” calling for an independent investigation. “It’s got to be taken seriously because this is a serious allegation raised by a serious individual and needs to be investigated seriously. We’ve probably have to hear from him [Biden] at some point directly,” Jeffries yesterday. Reade offered to take a lie detector test, wanting her corroborating witnesses to be heard.
Biden’s stint on “Morning Joe” today doesn’t end questions of what happened to Reade in 1993 while a 22-year-old aide working for Joe for nine months. When she was terminated after filing a complaint, there should be records somewhere. Unlike Kaanuagh’s accuser Christie Blasé Ford, Joe wasn’t in high school on some murky weekend accused by a 15-year-old of attempted rape in a Washington suburb. Reade’s allegations happened somewhere in the Senate office Building when Biden was 58. Where’s Sen. Diane Feinstein (D-Calif.) who brought Blasey Ford’s charges against Kavanaugh to the Senate Judiciary Committee? Only Jeffries has called for an independents investigation. Reade’s allegations expose the hypocrisy of Democrats endorsing the #MeToo movement only when it suits them politically. “I believe Joe Biden,” said former Georgia Rep. Stacy Abrams.
