Joe Biden sexual assault allegation: Difference between revisions

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In March 2020, Tara Reade alleged that Joe Biden, former U.S. vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee in the 2020 presidential election, had sexually assaulted Reade in spring 1993, in a Capitol Hill office building when she was a staff assistant in his Senate office. Reade had previously alleged to reporters in April 2019 that Biden had touched her neck and shoulders in ways that made her feel uncomfortable. She did not make any allegation of assault at that time.

In April 2020, she said she told Biden's Senate staff in 1993 about harassment. The former staff members named by Reade said that they did not receive a complaint from her. On May 1, 2020, Biden addressed Reade's claims and said "they aren't true",^[1] and he requested the Secretary of the United States Senate to search for and release any documents pertaining to the complaint Reade said she filed in 1993.^[2]

Tara Reade, née Tara Reade Moulton, is a writer^[3] residing in Nevada County, California.^[4] She has also gone by the names Alexandra Tara Reade, Alexandra Tara McCabe, and Tara McCabe.^[5][6][4] In early 2020, she worked part time with families with special-needs children in Nevada County.^[7][8][9] She earned a law degree from Seattle University School of Law in 2004^[10] but has not taken a bar examination.^[8][11] She works as a consultant to nonprofit organizations.^[11][6][12]

From December 1992 to August 1993, Tara Reade, then 29, was a staff assistant in Joe Biden's Senate office in Washington, D.C., with responsibility for the office's intern program and mail delivery.^[11]

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In 2009, Reade attributed her past departure from Washington, D.C., to moving to the Midwestern United States with a boyfriend.^[9]

In a report by The Union, a local newspaper in Grass Valley, California, Reade provided documents that showed that she worked for Biden from December 1992 to August 1993.^[13] She alleged during that time Biden "used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck".^[13][14] Reade also told of an incident where (unnamed) staff under Biden argued over whether she should serve drinks at an event.^[13] Reade said that she heard from (unnamed) staff that Biden wanted her to do so because he liked her legs.^[13][15] Reade said she complained to Senate personnel, but Biden's office learned about her complaints.^[13][15] She stated: "My life was hell ... this was about power and control ... [after my departure] I couldn't get a job on the Hill".^[13] According to the article, Reade "didn't consider the acts toward her sexualization. She instead used an analogy of being a lamp", that was displayed because it was "pretty", and then discarded when "too bright".^[13][14][16] Reade says she wants Biden to acknowledge and apologize for having "changed the trajectory" of her life.^[13]

The Union published a column by Reade where she alleged that her supervisor had informed her that Biden wanted her to "serve drinks at a [sic] 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, continuing an argument among the staff.^[4] After that, Biden would "often" touch her shoulder and neck.^[4] Reade felt that "these gestures were not so much about ‘connection' but establishing dominance in the room."^[4] Reade also wrote in that essay: "...this is not a story about sexual misconduct; it is a story about abuse of power."^[4] Reade said she spoke out in 2019 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.^[17][18]

In April 2019, the Associated Press interviewed Reade about the allegations she was making at the time, but did not publish an article, as they found that parts of her story contradicted other reports and they could not corroborate her accusations. At the time, Reade told the Associated Press that Biden rubbed her shoulders and neck and played with her hair. She said a fellow aide told her to dress more modestly at work. She said regarding Biden: "I wasn't scared of him, that he was going to take me in a room or anything. It wasn't that kind of vibe."^[19] The Washington Post also interviewed Reade in 2019, but did not publish an article about that interview. Later in 2020, The Washington Post wrote that Reade had told them that Biden touched her neck and shoulders, "and he had people around saying it was okay". The Washington Post stated that Reade in 2019 "did not mention the alleged assault or suggest there was more to the story."^[8][9]

Asked why she didn't present the sexual assault allegations earlier, Reade told Newsweek she "didn't really know how to [come forward] because, how would you?"^[20] Reade had contacted Time's Up Legal Defense Fund seeking legal and public relations support in an effort to "get her story out in a safe way". Uma Iyer, vice president of The National Women's Law Center (NWLC), which oversees and distributes funds for Time's Up, expressed their desire to provide her as much assistance as they possibly could but funding her legal defense was not possible because of restrictions imposed by their 501(c)(3) status.^[20][21] Time's Up provided Reade a list of attorneys to contact; Reade said she contacted all of them, but none agreed to represent her.^[22] After failing to secure legal help, Reade wrote in a January 2020 post on Medium, "I have not told the whole story of what occurred between Joe Biden and myself."^[21]

In a March 25, 2020, interview with Katie Halper, Reade alleged that Biden had pushed her against a wall, kissed her neck, put his hand under her skirt, penetrated her with his fingers and asked, "Do you want to go somewhere else?"^[11][23] Reade later told NPR for an April 19 article, "His hands went underneath my clothing and he was touching me in my private areas and without my consent."^[23] Reade told The New York Times for an April 12 article that when she pulled away from Biden, he looked puzzled and said, "Come on, man, I heard you liked me." She then said he told her "You're nothing to me, nothing," followed by "You’re OK, you're fine."^[22] Reade told NPR she could not remember the exact place or date of the incident, stating it was likely a basement of a D.C. Senate office building in the spring of 1993.^[23]

Reade told The New York Times that after the alleged assault, she had reported about harassment to three of Biden's aides (Ted Kaufman, Dennis Toner and Marianne Baker), but did not mention the assault.^[22] She said that nothing happened as a result, so she wrote a complaint to a Senate personnel office.^[22] Reade told the Associated Press that her complaint to the Senate personnel office was about "retaliation" and "him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable", with no explicit mention of sexual assault or sexual harassment.^[19] Reade did not keep a copy of her Senate personnel office complaint.^[19]

Reade also told The New York Times that eventually, her office duties were reduced and that Kaufman later said that she did not fit the office, instructing her to find a new job.^[22] However, Reade told the Associated Press that it was Toner who stated she did not fit the job and encouraged her to find another job, which the Associated Press noted was a contradiction with her account to The New York Times.^[24] In blog posts in January and April 2020, she wrote that no one in Washington, D.C., wanted to hire her after her firing.^[9]

Addressing why she made her sexual assault 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."^[11] According to The Intercept, Reade had feared coming forward with her full story of sexual assault and "went silent" after receiving harassment online related to her earlier allegations in April 2019 of inappropriate touching, saying that she later "thought about the world she wanted her daughter to live in and decided that she wanted to continue telling her story".^[18] She said she did not share her assault allegation when she initially came forward because, in part, she "just didn't have the courage,"^[25] and that after publicly alleging that he had touched her inappropriately, she said she received death threats, a "wave of criticism,"^[22] and was doxed.^[26]

On April 9, 2020, Reade filed a police report with the Washington Metropolitan Police Department alleging she was sexually assaulted in the spring of 1993.^[23][7] According to NPR, Biden was named in a record of the report.^[27] Reade acknowledged that the statute of limitations has lapsed, and she initially stated that she filed the report "for safety reasons only", due to online threats. The Washington Metropolitan Police said on April 25 that her complaint is an inactive case,^[28][29][30] and Reade was later quoted by Fox News as saying that "by making that police report, it allows a mechanism for [her] to safety plan and work with a victim advocate."

On May 1, New York Times' reporter Lisa Lerer said Reade had cancelled a planned interview with Fox News, stating that "death threats received by her and her child made her nervous about being in the public eye".^[31] Reade said her family has received "creepy" phone calls and harassment, and that she and her family were 'frightened'.^[32] Reade told the Wall Street Journal she has yet to decide when and where a television interview will take place, and that she is "digesting and processing" Biden's denial.^[33]

An April 12 The New York Times article reported that the publication had conducted interviews with 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 Reade, but had no new knowledge about the incident.^[22] Two friends said that she had told them of the alleged assault (one in 1993 shortly after the alleged assault took place, the other in 2008). Melissa Lefko, a contemporary staff assistant, said she had never experienced harassment and thought his office was a "very supportive environment for women."^[22] The NYT story included two former interns who said they remembered Reade 'suddenly changing roles and no longer overseeing them' at the same time Reade said she had been 'abruptly reassigned'.^[34]

Reade named three aides that she asserted she complained to about harassment by Biden (but not sexual assault). In the same article, these three aides denied Reade's assertion. 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."^[22] 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."^[22] 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.^[22] 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.^[35] The Times reiterated that it "made no conclusion either way".^[35]

Anonymous individuals who said that have heard from Reade previously were not only reported in the The New York Times, but also in other outlets. Due to a lack of identification, it is unknown which of these anonymous individuals overlap.^[36] The Associated Press reported in April that it spoke with two more people who said Reade had told them parts of her story years ago, publishing their accounts anonymously. One was told of the alleged assault in 1993, and another remembers hearing of "sexual harassment" in 2007 or 2008.^[24] The Washington Post spoke to a "a friend, a former intern for another lawmaker", that said that Reade had alleged an assault soon after it happened.^[9] CNN spoke to a friend of Reade's who had previously interned for Senator Ted Kennedy, who says she was told of both sexual harassment and sexual assault at the time, and that in 2019, she had advised Reade to only go public about harassment, not assault.^[37]

Some associates of Reade who claim they have heard from her previously have disclosed their identities. Lorraine Sanchez was Reade's co-worker from 1994–1996, and says she was told about "sexual harassment" by Reade, and about a complaint filed and the subsequent loss of her job, but she does not recall if Reade named Biden. According to an April 28, 2020, CNN story, on April 27, Lynda LaCasse, an ex-neighbor of Reade's, told CNN that Reade had told her about the alleged assault by Biden "...in the mid-1990s".^[37] LaCasse also stated that she remembered the allegations when Reade contacted her recently, saying: "this Joe Biden thing is coming up again."^[38]

Collin Moulton, Reade's brother, initially reported to The Washington Post that Reade 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 told the Post that Reade in the early 1990s told him Biden put his hand "under her clothes."^[9] Moulton was also interviewed by ABC News in March 2020, in which he said Reade earlier informed him about "harassment at work" by Biden, but that he only heard about the assault in 2020. Hours after the interview concluded, he told ABC News that 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".^[39]

Reade has said that she told her mother, Jeanette Altimus, about the incident at that time. By the time Reade went public with her allegation, Altimus was already deceased. Both Reade and her brother claimed that their mother encouraged Reade to call the police after the alleged incident, with her brother regretting having previously told Reade to "move on, guys are idiots".^[18] Reade said that Altimus previously called into Larry King Live anonymously "saying my daughter was sexually harassed and retaliated against and fired, where can she go for help?" The episode, broadcast by CNN on August 11, 1993, features an anonymous caller from San Luis Obispo, California who said: "I'm wondering what a staffer would 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, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him."^[40] King then asked: "So she had a story to tell but out of respect for the person she worked for she didn't tell it?" The caller answered: "That's true."^[40] CNN verified that Altimus lived in San Luis Obispo at the time of the call.^[41]

Biden addressed the allegation on May 1, 2020, appearing in a live interview on the MSNBC program Morning Joe.^[42] Additionally, Biden issued an official statement, in part: "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."^[43] In his formal statement, Biden referenced the Violence Against Women Act he said he wrote "over 25 years ago", adding:

I knew we had to change not only the law, but the culture. ... 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. So I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren't true.^[1]

Reade has said she filed a complaint with a congressional personnel office, but that it does not mention sexual assault. Instead, she used the words "uncomfortable" and "retaliation".^[a][44][45] After the National Archives informed him that the records from the time period were still under the control of the Senate, Biden on May 1, 2020, requested the Secretary of the United States Senate to search for and release any documents pertaining to the complaint Reade allegedly filed in 1993.^[2] On May 4, the secretary of the Senate's office stated that it cannot comply with Biden's request to release documents, as the records are "strictly confidential". Biden's campaign then asked whether the existence of the records and their complainants could be disclosed, as well as procedures and forms for such complaints in 1993.^[46]

Biden's senatorial records are in the possession of the University of Delaware, consisting of "1,875 boxes and 415 gigabytes of electronic content, largely uncatalogued."^[47] A University of Delaware spokeswoman said that the curation of the records would not be completed before 2021 and that they were unable to identify specific documents or files within the collection.^[48] Biden stated that those records do not contain personnel files and requested that the secretary of the Senate work with the National Archives and Records Administration to identify and release any complaint by Reade and any other relevant documents.^[43]

Following Reade's 2020 allegation, David Axelrod, a former top aide for President Barack Obama's 2008 campaign, stated that the vetting process for choosing Biden as the Vice President did not find any allegations of sexual misconduct.^[49]

NPR stated that Reade changed her story over time and that some of the details she provided have been "inconsistent", noting that in 2019 she did not mention sexual assault, but only harassment.^[23] Katie Halper, whose interview with Reade broke the story of the allegations, said Reade's story had not changed, writing in the The Guardian, "Reade provided more details over time, something that is common among survivors of sexual assault."^[50] 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".^[51] Joan Walsh, writing in The Nation, said Reade's allegation of sexual assault "doesn't stand up to close scrutiny".^[52] Also for The Nation, Kate Mann says she sees "strong evidence", and asks "why are many people still refusing to believe Tara Reade?"^[53] The Guardian columnist Arwa Mahdawi wrote an op-ed about the allegations, saying it was frustrating to see liberals "turning a blind eye" and conservatives "weaponize the accusations".^[54][55]

Footnotes

Citations

• Statement by Vice President Joe Biden
• 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.
• Mika Brzezinski (May 1, 2020). Joe Biden: This is an open book, there is nothing for me to hide. Morning Joe. MSNBC.