Joe Biden "Unequivocally" Denies Sexual Assault Allegation In First Direct Statement

The allegation came from former Senate staffer Tara Reade, who alleges he sexually assaulted her in 1993.

Former Vice President and presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden on Friday morning addressed an allegation from a former Senate staffer that he sexually assaulted her in 1993, wholly denying the claims.

"It is not true. I am saying unequivocally, it never, never happened," Biden said on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on Friday.

Alexandra Tara Reade worked as a staff assistant in Biden’s Senate office from December 1992 to August 1993, when she was 29 years old. In March 2020, she said that sometime in the spring of ‘93, she brought Biden a gym bag in the U.S. Capitol building complex. She said Biden then pushed her up against a wall, kissed her neck and hair, propositioned her, and reached under her clothing and penetrated her with his fingers.

Related: What To Know About The Sexual Assault Allegation Against Joe Biden

In the MSNBC interview, Biden said he "did not remember any complaints" from his time in the Senate, and cited former employees from the same time period who said they also do not recall Reade making a complaint. He said he has not reached out to her and that they have not been in touch.
 

When questioned about possible non-disclosure agreements, Biden said, "I've never asked anyone to sign an NDA. There are no NDAs, period, in my case." He also said he is "happy" to release any documented complaints from his files if they are found.

"Believing women means taking the woman's claims seriously," Biden said on MSNBC, discussing his previous comments about the #MeToo movement and Dr. Christine Blasey Ford's allegation of sexual assault against Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. "Women have a right to be heard...Start at the presumption that they're telling the truth, and then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts." In this case, he said the facts are that this did not happen.

In a new statement published on Medium also on Friday, moments before his TV appearance, Biden wrote, "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."

He went on to say in the post: "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."

One unresolved question that has risen from Reade’s allegations are her comments that she filed a complaint with the Senate personnel office at the time. She does not have a copy of the complaint, nor does Biden’s office; the AP said it was unable to verify whether such a report had been made. Biden addressed this directly on Friday, saying in the Medium post, "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." He repeated this request to the Secretary of the Senate on MSNBC.

When asked why Reade would come forward with such an allegation, Biden said, "I’m not going to question her motive. I'm not going to attack her."

On Thursday, Reade told BuzzFeed News that she would likely do her own television interviews in the coming days.

After Biden's interview and statement, Tina Tchen, the president and CEO of TIME'S UP, released her own statement: "We have reached a pivotal moment in our nation when candidates for president are accused of sexual assault. Today, Vice President Joe Biden sat down and directly addressed the allegation against him with the seriousness it deserves, something that the current president has never done."

Tchen continued: "No longer can claims like this go ignored. Vice President Joe Biden needed to address Tara Reade’s allegation today. We call for complete transparency into this claim and the multiple claims against President Donald Trump. As we go forward, American voters are entitled to a full understanding of all allegations of this nature. Women should be heard, treated respectfully, and their allegations taken seriously. By no means is the conversation about sexual assault and power in America over. The painful truth is that the systems for women to pursue justice are and have always been broken. This must change. TIME’S UP will continue to fight the power imbalances in America‘s workplaces and in our world."