Then just don’t vote for me!
Biden’s advice if you believe accuser
Voters concerned about the sexual-assault allegations of his former Senate staffer, Tara Reade, should “vote their heart,” Joe Biden told an interviewer — and if they believe her, they shouldn’t vote for him at all.
“If they believe Tara Reade, they probably shouldn’t vote for me,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told host Lawrence O’Donnell on MSNBC.
“I wouldn’t vote for me if I believed Tara Reade,” he added.
Biden continued to strongly deny Reade’s account — that in 1993 he pinned her against a wall and sexually assaulted her.
“What matters is the truth . . . And the truth of the case is nothing like this, ever, ever happened. She has a right to be heard. But then it should be vetted and the truth ultimately matters. And I give you my word, it never, ever happened,” Biden said, adding that he didn’t remember her.
“Well to be honest with you, I don’t,” he said.
Reade’s lawyers said Friday they want her to be able to review the former veep’s records stored at the University of Delaware — and penned a letter to Biden and Laure Bachich Ergin, the school’s vice president and general counsel, demanding access.
They specifically want access to a request for sexual-harassment counseling they said Reade recalls filing with the Office of Senate Fair Employment Practices shortly after the alleged attack.
“While Biden continues to claim that the sexual assault ‘never happened’ and that he doesn’t even recall Ms. Reade, he steadfastly refuses to search his records currently housed at the University of Delaware,” said Douglas Wigdor, who is representing Reade.
“If he has nothing to hide, he should immediately consent to our request and permit a search for any records concerning Ms. Reade. If he does not, we will be forced to take next steps to vindicate our client’s rights.”
In a May 1 letter to the university, Biden asked that any records regarding Reade be located and released, but none has been forthcoming.
Reade, 56, said in a recent interview with Megyn Kelly that Biden pinned her against a wall and said, “I want to f--k you.”
“He had his hands underneath my clothes, and it happened all at once, so when I tell about it, it’s hard because so many things were happening at once, it’s like my brain was trying to catch up to what was happening,” she said.
Meanwhile, Susan Rice is throwing her hat into the ring for Joe Biden’s veep position. The former national security adviser for President Barack Obama said she “certainly would say yes” if asked to be Biden’s running mate in the 2020 election.
“I’m humbled and honored to be among the extremely accomplished women who are reportedly being considered in that regard,” Rice told PBS on Thursday.