A former Senate staffer for Joe Biden has credibly accused the Democrat of sexual assault, but you wouldn’t know it if you relied in the corporate media for your news.
Tara Reade described the alleged sexual misconduct in a graphic interview this week with lefty podcaster Katie Halper.
She first brought up Biden’s inappropriate touching last April, saying he did things like “put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck” when she worked in his Senate office in 1993. “I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that,” Reade told the Union.
She said that she left her job on bad terms in August of 1993 after she refused to serve drinks to Biden “because he liked her legs.”
“My life was hell,” Reade said. “This was about power and control. I couldn’t get a job on the Hill.”
A friend of Reade’s at the time confirmed to the Union that Reade relayed the story shortly after the incidents occurred.
“Back then, back there, things just happened,” the friend said.
Reade is one of several women who came forward last year to accuse Biden of inappropriate touching.
Former Nevada State Assemblywoman Lucy Flores said Biden approached her at a 2014 campaign rally and kissed the back of her head.
A second woman, Amy Lappos, said Biden touched her face and rubbed noses with her at a 2009 fundraiser.Caitlyn Caruso said Biden put his hand on her thigh and hugged her at a university event. D.J. Hill said Biden in 2012 touched her shoulder before moving his hand down her back.
Reade reportedly decided to speak out after Flores had come forward with her story, but after being accused of doing the bidding of Russian President Vladimir Putin, she stood down. In January of 2020, she tried to enlist the help of “Time’s Up,” an organization that was created during the #MeToo movement to help alleged assault survivors tell their stories, the Intercept reported.
However, Time’s Up refused to assist her because the accused is a candidate for federal office and providing legal and P.R. support for Reade would supposedly threaten the non-profit status of the group.
Now Reade has decided to tell the full story, accusing the likely Democrat presidential nominee of full–blown sexual assault.
“This is a story that @ReadeAlexandra has been trying to tell since it happened in 1993,” Katie Halper tweeted. It’s a story about sexual assault, retaliation and silencing.”
This is a story that @ReadeAlexandra has been trying to tell since it happened in 1993. It's a story about sexual assault, retaliation and silencing. #meToo https://t.co/yHz3iFi9a5
— Katie Halper is a Jew For #CeasefireNow (@kthalps) March 25, 2020
In the interview excerpt, Reade describes the 1993 alleged assault in graphic detail.
She said a superior asked her to take a gym bag to Biden “down towards the capital” where she ended up being alone with him in a “side area.”
“We were alone and it was the strangest thing,” she said. “There was no like exchange really. He just had me up against the wall.”
Reade noted that she was wearing a business skirt with no stockings because it was hot at the time. “He had me up against the wall, and the wall was cold,” she recalled, saying Biden’s “hands were on me and underneath my clothes.”
Reade struggled to maintain her composure as she described what happened next. “Yeah, ah—he went—um—down my skirt but then up inside it and he—ah—penetrated me with his fingers,” she recalled with increasing emotion. “He was kissing me at the same time and saying things to me,” she added, while noting that she couldn’t remember all the things he had said.
“I remember him saying first, like as he was doing it, ‘Do you want to go somewhere else,’” she said. “And then him saying to me when I pulled away, he got finished doing what he was doing, and I kind of just pulled back and he said, ‘Come on man, I heard you liked me.’ And that phrase stayed with me because I kept thinking what I might’ve said and I can’t remember exactly if he said ‘I thought’ or ‘I heard’ but he implied that I had done this.”
Reade said, “everything shattered in that moment” because she had looked up to him. “He was like my father’s age,” she explained. “He was like this champion of women’s rights in my eyes and I couldn’t believe it was happening. It seemed surreal.”
She added that “she felt sick” because after she had pulled away, Biden “looked annoyed” and said something that didn’t want to share because it was so awful.
“I must have looked shocked,” she said, because Biden then grabbed her by the shoulders and said, “You’re okay. You’re fine” and then walked away and “went on with his day.”
In the aftermath of the alleged assault, Reade said she felt cold and was “shaking everywhere” and was “trying to grasp what had just happened.” She said she knew that Biden was angry with her.
After some coaxing from Halper, Reade later divulged what Biden had said to her: “He took his finger. He just like pointed at me and said you’re nothing to me.”
She later noted ruefully that Biden “was right.”
“That’s how people treated me,” she lamented. “I have no platform. I’m no one and to him I’m nothing.”
She added: “If people want to know why women don’t come forward, this is a good example of why.”
Halper said she spoke to Reade’s brother and a close friend, and both of them remembered Reade telling them about the alleged assault.
Reade also shared her story with left-wing commentator Krystal Ball and conservative journalist Saagar Enjeti in the Hill’s “Rising” podcast:
Other than the Hill’s podcast, Reade’s explosive accusations against the Democrat nominee for president have thus far been ignored by the same mainstream media that aggressively hyped every accusation against candidate Trump in 2016.
When allegations of Biden’s inappropriate touching first surfaced last year, Biden released a statement saying: “In my many years on the campaign trail and in public life, I have offered countless handshakes, hugs, expressions of affection, support and comfort.” He continued, “And not once — never — did I believe I acted inappropriately. If it is suggested I did so, I will listen respectfully. But it was never my intention.”
He also tweeted: “… I’ve heard what these women are saying. Politics to me has always been about making connections, but I will be more mindful about respecting personal space in the future. That’s my responsibility and I will meet it.”
In a statement to The Intercept, Reade stressed that she was deeply conflicted about coming forward with her accusations against Biden since he could be the Democrat nominee running against President Trump, whom Reade sees as “far worse politically.”
“I don’t want to help Trump. But what can I do?” she said. “All I can do is stand on my truth.”