Senate office says it can’t release any records requested by Biden

On Friday, as he forcefully denied an allegation of sexual assault made against him by a former Senate aide, Joe Biden called on the National Archives to release any complaint related to the accusation.

But the National Archives immediately responded that any such personnel records would not be under its control but would rest with the Senate itself.

Then the Biden campaign sent a letter to the secretary of the Senate asking the office to “direct a search” for any relevant records, if they existed, and make the results of the search public.

On Monday, the secretary of the Senate said that her office had no legal discretion “to disclose any such information.” That prompted Biden’s personal attorney to respond to the Senate office asking, in effect, what his campaign needed to do to locate any relevant documents and arrange for their release.

The exchanges have thrown into confusion Biden’s attempt to make public any documents related to the allegation, a level of transparency he promised when he appeared on MSNBC on Friday to address the issue for the first time, saying unequivocally that the assault “never happened.” Even the Biden campaign itself appears uncertain of how to proceed.

At issue is an allegation by Tara Reade, who says that Biden assaulted her in 1993 in a Senate hallway, pushing her up against a wall and penetrating her digitally. Reade worked as an aide in Biden’s Senate office in late 1992 and part of 1993.

She has told The New York Times that she filed a complaint with a congressional personnel office but she does not have a copy, and such paperwork has not been located. The complaint, she said, alleges harassment but not an assault.

In a statement released Monday, the secretary of the Senate said, “Senate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information as requested in Vice President Biden’s letter of May 1.” The statement cited, in part, “strict confidentiality requirements” of a law governing such records; it did not confirm that there was a complaint.

Shortly afterward, the Biden campaign said that Bob Bauer, Biden’s personal attorney, had responded on behalf of Biden with three questions pertaining to the release of a complaint that included clarifications on any circumstances that would allow the office to release information.

The office of the secretary of the Senate did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Bauer’s questions.