Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden is continuing to maintain his silence regarding a sexual assault allegation.
Biden’s campaign has denied the allegation from his former Senate staffer Tara Reade, who has said Biden assaulted her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the 1990s. But the story garnered fresh attention this week after two of Reade’s associates said she previously told them about elements of her allegations.
Republicans are seizing on the allegation to portray Democrats as hypocrites who only defend women who allege wrongdoing against conservatives. Democrats, meanwhile, are in an awkward position of vigorously validating women who come forward with their stories while defending the man who will be their standard-bearer.
Biden has not addressed the matter, but he will be interviewed Friday by MSNBC and is expected to face questions about the accusations, according to The Associated Press.
The former vice president has spent most of the last several weeks securing the endorsements of his party’s most popular leaders, including U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, former President Barack Obama, U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and, this week, former Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton.
Biden has also been endorsed by most of the women who were also seeking the party’s White House nomination, including U.S. Sens. Elizabeth Warren, Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar.
Biden has committed to choosing a female running mate, and on Wednesday, he announced the formation of his vice presidential vetting committee.
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Biden has also participated in a handful of local and national interviews, during which he wasn’t asked about the allegation. But he hasn’t held a news briefing for the broader press corps that covers him since April 2, before multiple news organizations reported Reade’s story.
Some Democrats say that approach isn’t working and are urging a more forceful response.
“The campaign has issued statements, but he hasn’t issued any statements in his own voice,” said former Democratic National Committee Chairwoman Donna Brazile. “It’s not helping, it’s just damaging — not only to the person who has come forward but it’s also damaging the candidate.”
Credit: AJC
Lis Smith, who worked as a top strategist on Pete Buttigieg’s presidential campaign, also called on the Biden campaign to speak up. “These accusations have not been found to be credible, so it’s in the Biden campaign’s interest to nip this in the bud directly and do it quickly,” she said.
The November contest between Biden and President Donald Trump will be the first presidential race of the #MeToo era, which has led numerous women to come forward with allegations of sexual assault. Trump has been accused of assault and unwanted touching by numerous women, allegations he denies.
Women are a core constituency for Democrats, and Biden has a mixed history. While he wrote the Violence Against Women Act as a senator, he also came under heavy criticism for his handling of Anita Hill’s Senate testimony in the 1990s. Just before he launched his 2020 campaign, several women accused him of unwanted touching, behavior for which he apologized.
Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia Democratic governor candidate, said, “I believe Joe Biden,” citing a New York Times investigation that she said exonerated him.
“Women deserve to be heard,” she said, “but I also believe that those allegations have to be investigated by credible sources.”
That echoed talking points issued by the Biden campaign to surrogates last week that were obtained by The Associated Press. They pointed to investigations by The New York Times, The Washington Post and the AP found no other allegation of sexual assault and no pattern of sexual misconduct.
On Thursday, Pelosi defended Biden. Speaking on CNN, she said she was “satisfied with how he has responded,” even as she acknowledged “it’s a matter that he has to deal with.”
The silence from the Biden campaign has given Republicans an opening on an issue that was, in 2016, more fraught for the GOP, when Trump was asked to answer for the more than two dozen women who alleged varying levels of sexual assault and harassment.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell told Fox News on Thursday that Biden will “have to participate in releasing all the information related to” the allegation, a stance he didn’t take when Trump faced misconduct accusations.
The GOP argues Democrats aren’t being consistent, pointing to aggressive questioning and coverage of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh when he faced an allegation of sexual assault.
“The left, and their media allies, has one standard for Republicans and another standard for Democrats like Joe Biden,” said Steve Guest, a spokesman for the Republican National Committee. “The double standard is appalling.”
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