Joe Biden is slated to address Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault against the former Vice President on MSNBC’s Morning Joe on Friday. Biden’s remarks on the matter will be the first time he’s spoken on the allegation, which his campaign denied in a statement released earlier this month.
Pressure has mounted upon the former Vice President to deny the allegation directly. Tara Reade, a California woman who worked as a U.S. Senate aide in in the 1990’s, is describing an incident in which Biden allegedly pushed her against the wall of a Senate office and penetrated her with his fingers in 1993. Biden was a Delaware U.S. Senator at the time.
Several witnesses have come forward with accounts of Reade recounting the alleged incident to them at the time. Lynda LaCasse, a woman who was Reade’s neighbor in 1995 and 96, has described Reade telling her of the alleged incident. “This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it.”
Leading Democrats have mostly brushed off Reade’s allegation as they unite around the party establishment figure for the 2020 election. Nancy Pelosi said she was merely “satisfied” by Biden’s denial of the allegation, a whopping double standard for Democrats who required far less to demand Brett Kavanaugh’s withdrawal from Supreme Court confirmation processes.
President Donald Trump encouraged his general election opponent to address the allegation when asked about the situation Thursday, stating that it is possible the allegation could be false. It appears Biden’s Republican opponent is far more willing to recognize due process than Democrats such Kirsten Gillibrand, who demanded Brett Kavanaugh withdraw his nomination while maintaining an endorsement of Biden on the basis of his “vehement denial” of Reade’s allegations.