Joe Biden in an interview on MSNBC.
Source: MSNBC
Joe Biden will break his silence on a sexual assault allegation threatening to disrupt his presidential campaign during a Friday morning interview on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
The interview will be the first in which the former vice president and lawmaker addresses the sexual assault allegation against him made by Tara Reade, a former Senate aide who claims that Biden assaulted her in 1993 when she worked in his office.
Biden’s campaign has unequivocally denied the allegation, but pressure has been mounting for the candidate to address the claim himself.
Reade shook up Biden’s presidential campaign in March when she claimed on a podcast that Biden pinned her to a wall and used his fingers to penetrate her in an office building on Capitol Hill. Reade’s brother and a former neighbor have said that Reade discussed details of the alleged assault with them in the 1990s.
Reade has said she filed a written complaint at the time, though it has not yet been located. Many of the records from Biden’s senate office remain under seal at the University of Delaware until Biden retires from public life.
Amid Biden’s silence on the issue, a number of his potential running mates, including Sens. Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, as well as Stacey Abrams, the 2018 Democratic nominee for governor of Georgia, have expressed support for him.
Conservatives have accused Democrats of a double standard when it comes to assault allegations, pointing to the different reaction allegations against Justice Brett Kavanaugh received when the Trump appointee was accused of sexual assault during his Supreme Court confirmation hearings in 2018. Kavanaugh denied those allegations.
President Donald Trump, who has been accused of sexual assault by a number of women, told reporters on Thursday that Biden should address Reade’s claim, but noted that “it could be false accusations. I know all about false accusations.” Trump has been caught on tape bragging about grabbing women between their legs.
The Morning Joe interview is expected to begin around 8 a.m. ET.