First, we heard from former Vice President Joe Biden this morning about the intensifying allegations of sex assault against him…in a written statement.
“I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago,” Biden said in a written statement before appearing on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
“They aren’t true. This never happened,” Biden said.
Former Senate aide Tara Reade says then-Senator Joe Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993.
The Biden campaign has said “this absolutely did not happen.” answered questions about the allegations live. It was uncomfortable. Biden said any woman should be heard, the the allegations should be investigated and then they should be believed.
Then the former Vice President appeared on MSNBC’s Morning Joe and said, “These claims are not true.”
Reade’s mother, who is now deceased, allegedly called into Larry King Live to discuss Reade’s mistreatment, but the call does not specifically reference the assault just that her daughter had an issue with a Senator.
A former neighbor of Reade, Lynda LaCasse, recalls being told about the event in question:
LaCasse, 60, is a retired former medical staff coordinator and emergency-room clerk for San Luis Obispo General Hospital. She lived next door to Reade in 1995 and 1996 in an apartment complex near the beach in Morro Bay, California. She said, that Reade told her about the alleged assault. “We were talking about violent stories,” LaCasse said, “because I had a violent situation. We just started talking about things and she just told me about the senator that she had worked for and he put his hand up her skirt.”
LaCasse acknowledged that coming forward to support an allegation against the Democratic presidential nominee “may have repercussions for me.” But she said she has no political ax to grind and intends to vote for Biden.
“I personally am a Democrat, a very strong Democrat,” she said. “And I’m for Biden, regardless. But still I have to come out and say this.”
Reade’s alleged assault was also memorialized in a police report and in a complaint filed with the office of the Senate in 1993 currently under seal at the University of Delaware. The university has refused to release the documents, saying that the papers will not be released until two years after Biden retires. Biden said this morning that any personnel files would not be in those documents. He went on to say that the complaint is not public record.
“The collection of former Vice President Biden’s senatorial papers is still being processed, with many items yet to be cataloged,” an email from a school spokeswoman said. “The entire collection will remain closed to the public until two years after Mr. Biden retires from public life.”
The former vice president will be asked about the allegation tomorrow on Morning Joe on MSNBC.
President Trump thinks Joe Biden should respond to accusations of sexual assault against the presumed Democratic presidential nominee.
Adding that the allegations by former Senate staffer Tara Reade could be false.
Trump also said he knows “all about false accusations.”
The president has been accused of sexual misconduct by over two dozen women.
He also compared Biden’s situation to that of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of misconduct during his nomination.