WASHINGTON — Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday emphatically denied allegations from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in the early 1990s, declaring flatly that “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,” the former vice president and senator 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. Later Friday, Biden asked the secretary of the Senate via letter to assist in the search, though he told MSNBC that the Archives was the only possible place a complaint would be. He said 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 said. “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, saying any complaint “would have remained under the control of the Senate.” A spokeswoman for the Office of Congressional Workplace Rights said confidentiality rules bar the office from commenting on “whether specific claims may or may not have been filed.”
Biden, in his TV interview, said “there are so many inconsistencies” in Reade’s various accounts. But he said he does not “question her motive.” He said 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 casting 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, who denies the accusations.
In light of his own situation, Trump is stepping delicately around the Biden controversy.
“He’s going to have to make his own decision,” Trump said in a podcast interview Friday with Dan Bongino. “I’m not going to be telling him what to do.” The president added that it would be a “great thing” if Biden had records that could “dispose” of Reade’s allegation.
Democrats, meanwhile, are in an awkward position of validating women who come forward with their stories while defending their standard-bearer ahead of an expected competitive election.
