Biden's sexual assault accusation

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Two women told Business Insider that Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who has accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, mentioned the alleged incident to them in the mid-1990s, around the time she says it occurred. Lynda LaCasse, who once lived next to Reade, and Lorraine Sanchez, who worked with Reade in the California legislature, both say that Reade told them she had been fired from a job for reporting sexual harassment. Though Sanchez didn’t recall Reade telling her that Biden was the perpetrator, or that the misconduct in question was a sexual assault, the story LaCasse heard lines up closely with the one Reade has taken to the press.

“I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,” LaCasse told Business Insider. “And he kind of put her up against a wall. And he put his hand up her skirt and he put his fingers inside her. She felt like she was assaulted, and she really didn’t feel there was anything she could do.” Reade was in tears as she told the story, LaCasse added.

Reade has told reporters that in 1993, Biden pushed her up against a wall in the Senate complex, put one hand under her shirt and another her skirt, and penetrated her with his fingers. By the time of the alleged assault, she had already complained of a sexist atmosphere in Biden’s office and of sexual harassment. Reade also says that her superiors removed some of her key professional responsibilities after the assault; a former Biden intern has previously confirmed to the Washington Post that Reade was indeed abruptly removed as their supervisor, though they could not confirm the assault or that sexual harassment occurred in the office.

On Friday, the Intercept confirmed that a woman matching the description of Reade’s mother called into the Larry King Show to ask advice for her daughter, who had experienced “problems” in the office of a “prominent senator.” After the right-wing Media Research Center published a clip of the episode in question, Reade confirmed to Holly Otterbein of Politico that the woman sounded like her mother. The Business Insider report provides further, and arguably even more significant, corroboration of Reade’s story. Reade has said consistently that she informed her mother, brother, and a friend of the assault at the time. Previous reporting by the New York Times and the Post confirmed that Reade did disclose the story to her brother.

This is not the first time Reade has accused Biden of inappropriate behavior. In 2019, she was one of over half a dozen women to come forward with claims that Biden touched or kissed them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable. As a senator, Biden had stroked her hair and touched her without her consent, she said.

As corroborative evidence for Reade’s account begins to mount, Democratic voters find themselves in an unpalatable situation. Topping the ticket of one party is Donald Trump, who has been accused of sexual harassment and assault by over two dozen women. On the other side is Biden, whose handling of the Anita Hill hearing and previous support for the Hyde Amendment, which bans the use of public funds for abortion, already made him a difficult candidate for some women to support. Biden has yet to directly address Reade’s allegation, though representatives for his campaign have repeatedly denied that any assault occurred.

I don't think Business Insider is a "white nationalist" website...

Some supporters of former Vice President Joe Biden demanded that MSNBC fire host Chris Hayes after he covered the sexual assault allegations against the presumptive Democratic nominee.

"What this is creating is a kind of a perfect storm where the women who are being asked to support his opponent are now being asked to answer for these charges, in part because of the vacuum created by Joe Biden, who is not yet really directly answering these questions," Traister told Hayes. "And certainly not doing what I wish he would, which is to say: 'Please direct your questions about these allegations to me — and not the women that are out there offering their support to my candidacy.'"

Traister referred to former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams and New York Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand, who came out in defense of the former vice president this week. Both are believed to be in consideration to be Biden's running mate.

"The man in question — the nominee, the former vice president — is going to have to address them," Hayes said. "And not have Stacey Abrams or anyone else — or Kirsten Gillibrand — do that."

Abrams cited The New York Times' coverage of the allegations in an interview with CNN earlier this week.

"The New York Times did a deep investigation, and they found that the accusation was not credible," she claimed. "I believe Joe Biden."

BuzzFeed News reported Wednesday that the Biden campaign had issued talking points to supporters suggesting that The Times concluded that Reade's story "did not happen." The New York Times refuted those talking points, arguing that they "inaccurately suggest" that the assault "did not happen."

"I am consistently impressed with @chrislhayes' willingness to do what is right and buck the undoubtably weighty influence of network television," Emma Vigeland, a reporter for The Young Turks, said. "It's not close — he is *the* best host working within a system that doesn't necessarily incentivize his instinctive truth telling."

"Chris Hayes has been one of the media's most virulent, relentless & arguably effective Trump critics -- an all-consuming loathing for the President -- but #FireChrisHayes was trending because he covered the sex assault allegations against Biden. Shows what MSNBC has cultivated," Glenn Greenwald, a former Salon columnist and the co-founder of The Intercept, tweeted. "Also, with this completely deranged backlash against [Hayes] for the crime of covering what a news story - one that just happens to be unfavorable to Dems - you see the extreme career incentives for cable hosts never to tell their audiences anything they don't want to hear."

Hayes is hardly alone in calling for Biden to address the allegations against him. The Washington Post editorial board on Wednesday called for Biden to address the claim and release relevant records from his time in the Senate.

Tara Reade deserves to be heard, and voters deserve to hear her. They deserve to hear from Joe Biden, too," the editorial board wrote. "There are, at the moment, no clear conclusions. There may never be. But that is no excuse for not searching."

"President Trump has been credibly accused of sexual assault, including rape, by dozens of women," it added. "It may seem unfair to hold Mr. Trump's likely rival in the 2020 race to a standard that Mr. Trump has failed to meet again and again. But Mr. Trump shouldn't be allowed to set that standard. A better man could."

While some Biden supporters, like Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said that the allegation should be investigated, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., offered Biden her unconditional support in a Thursday interview with CNN.

"I have great sympathy for any women who bring forth an allegation, and I'm a big strong supporter of the #MeToo movement," Pelosi said. "I think it's made a great contribution to our country, and I do support Joe Biden. I'm satisfied with how he has responded. I know him. I was proud to endorse him on Monday — very proud to endorse him — and so I'm satisfied with that."

Pressed by CNN host Alisyn Camerota on why Biden had not addressed the allegation himself, Pelosi said it was a matter that the former vice president "has to deal with."

"But I am impressed with the people who worked for him at the time saying that [they] absolutely never heard one iota of information about this. Nobody ever brought forth a claim or had anybody else tell them about such a claim," she added. "But again, we have an important election at hand.

Biden supporters demand MSNBC fire Chris Hayes for covering Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation

#FireChrisHayes is now trending on twitter.
#BelieveAllWomen, Oops

What is the name of the third woman who accused Kavanaugh of running trafficking rings? I don't recall that.

I know absolutely NOTHING about American politics and I don't follow it at all. I've read a bit of this thread, though.

Doesn't it stand to reason that if a nominee is charged with a criminal offence, they lose office?

Or, is the whole point that he won't be charged because he'll be protected?

What if he is found guilty after being elected? Is that an automatic prison sentence / replacement, or would it be forgiven like Trump's hearing was in the winter?

Current policy is that the President cannot be charged with a crime, although that policy could always be reversed- it isn’t the law.

If these allegations emerged, say, a year from now, then Biden could be impeached, and then if the Senate convicted him then he would be thrown out.

Until then, he’s just another citizen and will be treated similarly, although naturally both sides will politicise this and put huge pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors.

... If these allegations emerged, say, a year from now, then Biden could be impeached, and then if the Senate convicted him then he would be thrown out.  Until then, he’s just another citizen and will be treated similarly, although naturally both sides will politicize this and put huge pressure on law enforcement and prosecutors.

The 2-3 years and untold billions would never happen with Biden because The Media is unquestionably an ally of The Left. That fact hasn't been legitimately debatable since the 2016 election.

Joe Biden on Friday denied sexual assault allegations from former staffer Tara Reade in his first public comments on the issue.

“I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago. They aren’t true. This never happened,” Biden said in a statement. Biden added that if Reade filed a complaint with his office at the time, his personal archives at the University of Delaware, which the Board of Trustees is refusing to open, would not contain files of that nature.

“There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be: the National Archives,” Biden said. “If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.” Reade says that the complaint she filed did not directly allege sexual assault, but that Biden had made her feel uncomfortable.

In an appearance on MSNBC’s Morning Joe, Biden again insisted that the National Archives are the only place where records from “the office [Reade] claims to have filed a complaint with are stored.” When host Mika Brezinski pressed Biden on why the former vice president wouldn’t open his archives at the university for a search of Reade’s name, Biden replied that the university archives contain records of private conversations with leading politicians that would be inappropriate to release while he is running for office.

When asked how he would square his current position with previous statements regarding Supreme Court justice Brett Kavanaugh accuser Christine Blasey Ford, Biden said “believing women means taking their claims seriously.”

“Women are to be given the benefit of the doubt…Start off with the presumption of truth,” but look at the facts of the case, Biden said.