For the first time, Joe Biden personally denied Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegations against him during an appearance on “Morning Joe.”
“It never happened,” Joe said.
Multiple witnesses have come forward corroborating Reade’s claim, saying that they were told about it after it happened, or some years later in the mid-1990s. Reade’s allegations were bolstered when she said that her mother called in to Larry King Live to anonymously ask for advice about her situation—and the Media Research Center uncovered video of the call.
Reade says she filed a complaint about Biden’s actions at the time, but nothing was done about it and she was fired afterward.
Biden called on the National Archives to release “any record of the complaint she alleges she filed and make available to the press any such document. If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there.”
However, his Senate papers are housed at the University of Delaware. “It is the practice of senators to establish a library of personal papers that document their public record,” he said. But he reiterated that any complaint would be at the National Archives.
5 REASONS TARA READE’S SEXUAL ASSAULT CLAIMS ARE MORE CREDIBLE THAN CHRISTINE BLASEY FORD’S
Why is Biden pointing at just the National Archives, and not both? The University of Delaware will not release those papers until two years after Biden retires from public life. He could call on them to release those papers if he wanted to. But he won’t. Why not?
Business Insider reported on Thursday that Biden campaign operatives have had access to those records since he declared his presidential candidacy—and that the Biden campaign is refusing access to those records. Why is Biden claiming that any complaint would be in the National Archives and not with his senatorial papers at the library? It’s quite simple. Biden wants the National Archives to say no complaint is on record there so that he can claim vindication. This is obviously part of the Biden strategy about the allegations: make Reade’s allegations dependent on that complaint turning up, because they know it won’t because they’re telling everyone it will be somewhere it isn’t, and the place it would be at is under lock and key at the University of Delaware, and the board of the University is full of Biden loyalists who are not gonna leak any incriminating documents from the file.
Biden knows that the National Archives won’t have Reade’s complaint. If it exists, his senatorial files at the University of Delaware are where they’re at—that is, of course, if Biden campaign operatives didn’t find it already and “misplace” it.
_____
Matt Margolis is the author of Trumping Obama: How President Trump Saved Us From Barack Obama’s Legacy and the bestselling book The Worst President in History: The Legacy of Barack Obama. You can follow Matt on Twitter @MattMargolis
Join the conversation as a VIP Member