Tara Reade, who recently accused the former vice-president and democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexual assault some 27 years ago, has called on him to quit the presidential race.
During an interview, she said that Joe Biden must not run for the presidential office with this character and advised him to step forward and face the charges. However, Biden has consistently denied the charges since it surfaced.
Reade claimed that she was working as the staff assistant of Biden in 1991-93 when Joe Biden was a Senator for Delaware. She said that Biden forced her against the wall, lifted her skirt, and penetrated her with a finger.
Miss Reade further added that he used obscene remarks, kissed her neck, and told her to go somewhere else. She said when I refused, Biden said: “I heard that you liked me.” Though there were no eyewitnesses, her colleagues and brother said they remember Reade telling them about this incident.
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When asked about whether Biden should withdraw from the race, Reade replied that she knows he won’t do it, but he should do it. She also agreed to take a lie detector test to her claims, albeit Biden does so too.
Tara claimed that she had been receiving death threats lately from Biden supporters for accusing him without any proof, and they are also labeling her a Russian agent. There have been coordinated social media campaigns against her.
Joe Biden and Tara Reade
Kate Bedingfield, the campaign manager for Biden, said that Tara Reade’s story, which she told in the interview, contained many inconsistencies. The statement said that women must be given the benefit of the doubt, but at the same time, truth should not be sacrificed.
It added that women must come forward and share their horrible stories without any fears of retribution. A week ago, Joe Biden also broke his silence on the allegations and made his first public comments; he categorically denied the allegations.
According to San Luis Obispo Tribune, a court document from 1996 suggest that Reade’s ex-husband mentioned her problems at work regarding sexual assault in the Senator’s office. During the divorce battle between the couple in 1996, her husband said that the sexual assault events had a traumatic effect on Reade and is still affected by it.
The document claimed by the California based newspaper is, for now, the only document that might describe her allegations. Douglas Wigdor, who is a high-powered Manhattan lawyer, said in a statement that he would be representing Miss Reade’s case. Wigdor has recently represented sexual assault victims in Hollywood’s jailed Weinstein case.
Meanwhile, political experts believe that this could affect Biden’s presidential campaign as many republicans are using the allegations to prove the hypocrisy of democrats. They have defended women who leveled allegations against conservative politicians.
President Trump has also faced more than dozens of sexual assault allegations. But the Democrats have championed the Me Too movement as women being the core voters to Democratic candidates. Many liberal women have said that they believe Tara Reade but will vote for Biden because they believe Trump is the bigger problem.
