Biden flatly declares sexual assault ‘never, never happened’
WASHINGTON (AP) — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday emphatically denied all egations from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s, declaring flatly “this never happened.”
Biden’s first public remarks on the accusation by a former employee, Tara Reade, come at a critical moment for the presumptive Democratic nominee as he tries to relieve mounting pressure after weeks of leaving denials to his campaign.
“I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” Biden said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Biden
said he will ask the National Archives to determine whether there is
any record of a complaint being filed, as Reade has claimed. He said the
Archives was the only possible place a complaint would be, and that his
Senate papers held under seal at the University of Delaware do not
contain personnel records.
“The former staffer has said she filed
a complaint back in 1993,” Biden continued. “But she does not have a
record of this alleged complaint.”
Reade did not immediately
respond to a request for comment Friday. The Archives deflected
inquiries to Capitol Hill: “Any records of Senate personnel complaints
from 1993 would have remained under the control of the Senate.”
Senate officials did not immediately respond to a request for information.
The
former vice president and senator, meanwhile, said “there are so many
inconsistencies” in Reade’s various accounts. But Biden also said he
does not “question her motive.” He said that over his five decades in
public life, none of his employees was asked to sign a nondisclosure
agreement.
Republicans worried about President Donald Trump’s increasingly precarious political standing
are seizing on Reade’s allegation to cast Democrats as only defending
women who allege wrongdoing against conservatives. They’re digging in
despite the possibility of renewed attention on the multiple sexual
assault allegations lodged against Trump.
Democrats, meanwhile,
are in an awkward position of validating women who come forward with
their stories while defending their presumptive nominee in what many in
the party consider the most important election of their lifetimes.
Former
Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile said before
Biden’s interview that his silence was “damaging,” but afterward said he
handled the matter well.
“He responded, he denied it, and
there’s nothing more to be added to it,” Brazile said, before alluding
to Reade’s repeated public statements. “If you add to the story the way
Tara Reade has, it only brings more confusion.” Karen Finney, who worked
for Hillary Clinton in 2016, described Biden as “very clear and
consistent” and “sincere,” but said, “I wish they had done this a little
bit sooner.”
The November contest between Biden and Trump will be
the first presidential race of the #MeToo era, during which numerous
women have come forward with allegations of sexual harassment and
assault. Trump has been accused of assault and unwanted touching by
numerous women, allegations he denies.
Women are a core
constituency for Democrats, and Biden has a mixed history. He wrote the
Violence Against Women Act as a senator, but came under heavy criticism
for his handling of Anita Hill’s Senate testimony in the 1990s. Just
before he launched his 2020 campaign, several women accused him of
unwanted touching, behavior for which he apologized.
Biden has pledged to pick a woman as a running mate, and the allegation has left those thought to be in contention in a tough spot.
“Women
deserve to be heard,” said Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia Democratic
governor candidate, “but I also believe that those allegations have to
be investigated by credible sources.”
That echoed talking points
the Biden campaign issued to surrogates last week that were obtained by
The Associated Press. They pointed to investigations by The New York
Times, The Washington Post and the AP that found no other allegation of
sexual assault against Biden and no pattern of sexual misconduct.
Some
Democratic donors say the matter hasn’t come up in recent strategy
calls. Others worry it could be used against Biden, much as Republicans
harped in 2016 on Clinton’s private email server ind activities of the
Clinton Foundation.
“We know they’re going to try elements of the
same playbook,” said Finney, talking specifically about calls for Biden
to release his Senate papers.
Other Democratic operatives
expressed concern the allegation complicates a central Biden campaign
rationale: that he provides a moral counter to Trump.
“I think we
have to apply a consistent standard for how we treat allegations of
sexual assault, and also be clear-eyed about how Donald Trump will use
these allegations in the general election campaign,” said Claire
Sandberg, who worked as Bernie Sanders’ organizing director.
Indeed,
Republicans seized Friday on the idea of scouring Biden’s records as
they try to take advantage of an issue that was, in 2016, more fraught
for them when more than two dozen women alleged that Trump committed
varying levels of sexual assault and harassment. “That would be a great
thing if he could show records and dispose of it with records,” Trump
said Friday, though he also said he’d tell Biden, “Just go out and fight
it.”
In light of his own past, Trump continues to step delicately
around the Biden accusation, but he also joins Republicans in arguing
that Democrats aren’t being consistent. Trump pointed again Friday to
the aggressive questioning of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when
he faced an allegation of sexual assault. Biden said Friday that women
“should start off with the presumption they are telling the truth. Then
you have to look at the circumstances and the facts. And the facts of
this case do not exist.”
Trump surrogates were more aggressive
than the president. His campaign quickly released a digital ad featuring
prominent Democrats, including Biden and Clinton saying, “Believe
women” and similar sentiments.
“Ladies and gentleman, we just
can’t have it both ways,” Trump spokeswoman Kellyanne Conway said at the
White House. “We cannot decide which women were included in ‘believe
all women.’”
Asked whether the controversy will refocus attention on Trump’s history, Conway said, “If you do that, then you’re going to hear a lot from Tara Reade and other people.”
Associated Press writers Jill Colvin, Darlene Superville and Brian Slodysko in Washington contributed to this report.