(CNN) – Joe Biden released a statement on Friday denying claims by a former official that he sexually assaulted her 27 years ago, saying what Tara Reade says: “It never happened.”
Friday’s statement is Biden’s first detailed response to Reade’s accusation.
“While the details of these sexual harassment and sexual assault allegations 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 must be heard, not silenced. The second is that their stories must be subject to appropriate investigation and scrutiny, ”the former vice president and presumed 2020 Democratic nominee said in the statement.
He continued: “The organizations of news Those responsible must examine and evaluate the full and growing record of inconsistencies in their history, which has repeatedly changed in both small and large ways. ”
“But this is worth emphasizing,” he said. “She has said that she raised some of these issues with her supervisor and senior staff in my office at the time. They, both men and women, have stated unequivocally that he never came to them and complained or raised problems. News organizations that have spoken literally to dozens of former employees have found no one, not one, to corroborate their allegations in any way. In fact, many of them talked about the culture of an office that would not have tolerated bullying in any way, as in fact it would not have. ”
Biden’s statement came before an MSNBC interview this Friday morning and due to pressure on the alleged Democratic candidate to personally address Reade’s accusation.
The only response from his campaign for weeks has been a statement from deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield, highlighting the former vice president’s role in crafting the Violence Against Women Act and saying that what Reade had claimed “absolutely did not happen.” Biden’s former employees also said Reade had not complained about Biden at the time.
The indictment comes as Biden is preparing to face President Donald Trump in the general election. More than a dozen women have brought charges against Trump, ranging from unwanted advances to sexual harassment and assault. Trump has denied those allegations.
For some of Biden’s supporters and advisers, questions related to Reade’s indictment have presented a challenging balancing act: expressing support for Biden’s candidacy and character without dismissing an allegation of sexual assault. Democrats in particular have championed the #MeToo movement in recent years, advocating that all accusers be fully heard and recognized. And the gender dynamic is expected to remain at the forefront of the 2020 race, as Biden begins his search for a career partner.
Some of the women expected to be on Biden’s vice presidential nominee list were recently asked about the accusation, including Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer and Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar. Biden’s allies have drawn on her decades-long advocacy for the rights of women and victims of abuse, including her work on the Violence Against Women Act.
Reade, who worked as a junior staff member in Biden’s office in 1993, when he was a Senator from Delaware, previously told CNN that his then boss sexually assaulted her that year on Capitol Hill.
A former Reade neighbor told CNN that Reade told him about the alleged assault in the mid-1990s, and a video The recently released 1993 seems to show Reade’s mother calling “Larry King Live” for advice around the time of the alleged assault on how to handle her daughter’s “problems” while working for a prominent American senator.
Reade has said she complained to several colleagues in the office about interactions with Biden that made her uncomfortable, but not about the alleged assault.
Marianne Baker, who was Biden’s executive assistant in the 1980s and 1990s when he was a senator, also previously said in a statement provided through the Biden campaign that he was never aware of any reports of inappropriate behavior, including from Reade.
“In all my years working for Senator Biden, I have never witnessed, heard or heard, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct, period, from either Ms. Reade or anyone else. I have absolutely no knowledge or recollection of the events that Ms. Reade describes, which would have left a heartbreaking impression on me as a professional woman and as a manager, ”said Baker. “These clearly false allegations are in complete contradiction both to the inner workings of our Senate office and to the man I know and have worked with so closely for nearly two decades.”
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Dennis Toner, who was Biden’s deputy chief of staff at the time and one of the people Reade said he had discussed his complaints with, told CNN in an interview Thursday that he did not recall Reade or any conversations related to allegations of sexual harassment.
I would clearly remember if we, that is, if Tara and I, had any kind of conversation regarding sexual harassment allegations, and much more something related to Senator Biden. It would stay on my mind. It would burn in my mind, ”said Toner. “I do not get it”.
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