Joe Biden emphatically denied any wrongdoing when he finally addressed Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault against him on Friday morning.
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1306827
This is a companion discussion topic for the original entry at https://talkingpointsmemo.com/?p=1306827
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I believe him.
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Ms. Reade or whatever her name is this week hasn’t been a PR consultant’s dream client. Her revisions, inconsistencies, outright fabrications are all on display.
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He has taken a good tone so far. Firm in his innocence, while refusing to discuss her motives.
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Was just writing the same thing… I have seen it both ways:
Biden pressed her up against a wall, reached under her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers.
and Down her skirt
I am not sure I believe it either way, but I can see the down her skirt in light of panyhose as a lot more likely than UP
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Also, there are no other such accusations. Smelling hair and kissing the back of heads is NOT the same thing.
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Well, that was easy.
For the record, I never wore pantyhose to the office. 
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Not good enough! He has to provide proof he wasn’t there, wherever there was, on whatever date she says and, then the new date when she changes the date.
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I find it interesting that she didn’t come out with this story until after Jean E. made the same accusation against Trump. Did he touch her hair and shoulders? Yeah, probably but I don’t see the assault at all, especially the nasty dismissal at the end.
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I can understand why the media must chase this story, but I don’t think it carries much relevance in the election. Everyone knew that some allegations would be made against the candidate, whoever it was, and there is nothing they can say to make it go away. These things are a function of the election, and only the election can make them go away. But, whether it is nepotism or sexual assault, it is simply not a factor considering the opponent is Donald Trump.
Watching Mika swell with importance during the questioning, you can see why the media finds stories like this so compelling.
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Biden Accuser Reade’s Allegations Match Scene from Dead Father’s Novel.
Yes, that’s right. In just another twist from the You-Can’t-Make-This-Sh*t-Up, 2020 Edition, late last night it was discovered that Tara Reade’s late father, Robert Moulton, wrote a novel in 2010 1998. Moulton’s obituary can be found here:
Robert Moulton, sports writer for the Wausau Daily Herald during the 1960s, died at his home in Newhall, California, on February 29, 2016, at age eighty after several months of declining health. He is survived by his children, Kimberly, Diane, Collin Reade and Tara.
The novel, ‘Loss’, listed on Amazon and Google Books contains a scene, which bears uncanny similarity to her allegation against Joe Biden:
“After several weeks of flirting with him she spent the night in his room on Bleeker Street next door to the Russian strip joint…” — actually I will stop there as the scene gets pretty adult and would not be appropriate for a diary IMO. You can see the highlighted text at this twitter thread for more info.
Major media has practically run away from giving these allegations air time and it’s clear why: every time someone does some digging, her story falls apart. Nevertheless toxic elements in our party have continued to try and breathe life into this disaster of a story. Following the same pattern as the ‘mental decline’ narrative which went from ‘Biden has dementia’, to ‘well maybe not dementia but he’s old/frail/something’s not right’, to ‘people are talking about it, so maybe there’s something there’, to ‘it may not be true but he should just address it’, the Reade narrative is playing out just the same way.
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Men denying sexual assault allegations are a buck a dozen. Some are telling the truth, some aren’t.
The GOP wants to sow doubt among women voters on this. I trust Team Biden is prepared to deflect and go on offense.
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Here’s a list of people Tara Reade has accused of assault or harassment.
Her father, Robert Moulton
Her ex-husband, Tate
A former employer, Krystal Rojas
A YWCA supervisor
A former business partner, Frankie Knight
Joe Biden
These are all people Reade has either gone to court with, or publicly accused.
That’s quite a lot.
It’s a pattern, in fact. So, either Reade is just a very unlucky woman with a sad, painful existence, or she’s accusatory happy.
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I would like to have someone who has been assaulted and had to make the many decisions on how to handle it come forth and say that her story is not credible. It’s easy to make comments on someone’s behavior if you have absolutely no clue what that state of mind would entail.
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I am glad he finally addressed the issue.
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Excellent point about the pantyhose.
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If Biden would have said he did it, imagine how many macho Repub’s would consider voting from him as they were petting their bang bangs.
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Yes saw that story earlier, just a coincidence I am sure
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I think that the below statement that Biden put out this morning is good. Beyond that, I’ll watch to see where the investigation goes.
Statement by Vice President Joe Biden
April was Sexual Assault Awareness Month. Every year, at this time, we talk about awareness, prevention, and the importance of women feeling they can step forward, say something, and be heard. That belief – that women should be heard – was the underpinning of a law I wrote over 25 years ago. To this day, I am most proud of the Violence Against Women Act. So, each April we are reminded not only of how far we have come in dealing with sexual assault in this country – but how far we still have to go.
When I wrote the bill, few wanted to talk about the issue. It was considered a private matter, a personal matter, a family matter. I didn’t see it that way. To me, freedom from fear, harm, and violence for women was a legal right, a civil right, and a human right. And I knew we had to change not only the law, but the culture.
So, we held hours of hearings and heard from the most incredibly brave women – and we opened the eyes of the Senate and the nation – and passed the law.
In the years that followed, I fought to continually strengthen the law. So, when we took office and President Obama asked me what I wanted, I told him I wanted oversight of the critical appointments in the Office on Violence Against Women at the Department of Justice and I wanted a senior White House Advisor appointing directly to me on the issue. Both of those things happened.
As Vice President, we started the “It’s on Us” campaign on college campuses to send the message loud and clear that dating violence is violence – and against the law.
We had to get men involved. They had to be part of the solution. That’s why I made a point of telling young men this was their problem too – they couldn’t turn a blind eye to what was happening around them – they had a responsibility to speak out. Silence is complicity.
In the 26 years since the law passed, the culture and perceptions have changed but we’re not done yet.
It’s on us, and it’s on me as someone who wants to lead this country. 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. This never happened.
While the details of these allegations of sexual harassment and sexual assault are complicated, two things are not complicated. One is that women deserve to be treated with dignity and respect, and when they step forward they should be heard, not silenced. The second is that their stories should be subject to appropriate inquiry and scrutiny.
Responsible news organizations should examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in her story, which has changed repeatedly in both small and big ways.
But this much bears emphasizing.
She has said she raised some of these issues with her supervisor and senior staffers from my office at the time. They – both men and a woman – have said, unequivocally, that she never came to them and complained or raised issues. News organizations that have talked with literally dozens of former staffers have not found one – not one – who corroborated her allegations in any way. Indeed, many of them spoke to the culture of an office that would not have tolerated harassment in any way – as indeed I would not have.
There is a clear, critical part of this story that can be verified. The former staffer has said she filed a complaint back in 1993. But she does not have a record of this alleged complaint. The papers from my Senate years that I donated to the University of Delaware do not contain personnel files. It is the practice of Senators to establish a library of personal papers that document their public record: speeches, policy proposals, positions taken, and the writing of bills.
There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be – the National Archives. The National Archives is where the records are kept at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices. I am requesting that the Secretary of the Senate ask the Archives to identify any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document. If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.
As a Presidential candidate, I’m accountable to the American people. We have lived long enough with a President who doesn’t think he is accountable to anyone, and takes responsibility for nothing. That’s not me. I believe being accountable means having the difficult conversations, even when they are uncomfortable. People need to hear the truth.
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. I know how critical women’s health issues and basic women’s rights are. That has been a constant through my career, and as President, that work will continue. And I will continue to learn from women, to listen to women, to support women, and yes, to make sure women’s voices are heard.
We have a lot of work to do. From confronting online harassment, abuse, and stalking, to ending the rape kit backlog, to addressing the deadly combination of guns and domestic violence.
We need to protect and empower the most marginalized communities, including immigrant and indigenous women, trans women, and women of color.
We need to make putting an end to gender-based violence in both the United States and around the world a top priority.
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.
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Has she said what color the swift boat was?
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