Tara Reade calls on Biden to step aside

Tara Reade, the former Senate aide who has accused Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, on Thursday called on him to withdraw from the presidential race.

In Reade’s first interview since Biden unequivocally denied the allegation last week, she was asked by former Fox News anchor and NBC News correspondent Megyn Kelly what she wanted to say to Biden.

“I want to say: You and I were there, Joe Biden. Please, step forward and be held accountable,” Reade said in a short clip that Kelly posted on her Twitter account. “You should not be running on character for the president of the United States.”

Asked if she wanted him to withdraw, Reade responded: “I wish he would. But he won’t.” She said she did not want an apology from Biden, saying, “I think it’s a little late.”

Reade said last year that Biden made her uncomfortable during her ninemonth tenure in his office, including once putting his hand on her neck during a meeting. But in March, she accused him for the first time of assaulting her after pushing her against a wall on Capitol Hill.

Biden adamantly denied the allegation last week and on Thursday reiterated the denial when asked about Reade’s comments that he should drop out of the race.

“Nothing ever happened with Tara Reade,” he said during an interview with Tampa’s Spectrum Bay News 9. “Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims like these. I’ll always uphold that principle. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. And in this case the truth is these claims are flat out false. False.”

Biden’s deputy campaign manager, Kate Bedingfield, on Thursday night also released a statement challenging some of Reade’s statements, saying “more and more inconsistencies keep emerging.”