In a shocking revelation, a former aide has accused former US Vice President and Democratic party presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her during the early 1990s when he was a Senator.
According to the reports, Tara Reade, who hails from California, had accused Joe Biden of assaulting her in the basement of a Capitol Hill office building in the spring of 1993. She had also filed a police report in Washington on Thursday which said that she was a victim of a sexual assault by an unknown person.
Tara Reade, who had briefly worked as a staff assistant in Biden’s Senate office said that in 1993, Biden had pinned her to a wall in a Senate building, reached under her clothing and penetrated her with his fingers. Reade’s statements were confirmed by her friend, who said that Reade had told her the details of the allegation at the time. Another friend and a brother of Reade also said she told them over the years about a traumatic sexual incident involving Biden.
Last year, Reade had publicly accused Biden of inappropriate touching in the past. In a podcast interview, Reade had accused Biden of assaulting and touched her without consent while the two were alone after she delivered him a gym bag.
However, Biden deputy campaign manager and communications director Kate Bedingfield has refuted the allegations and stated that the former vice president has “dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women.”
She added, “he firmly believes that women have a right to be heard and heard respectfully, but such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press.” Bedingfield further claimed, “What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”
Earlier in the Democratic primary, Biden had also faced accusations of unwanted touching by several women, who said they were uncomfortable with hugs, hand-holding and other actions. Reade was among the few victims who had come forward at the time to narrate her ordeal.
Reade’s sexual harassment charges against Joe Biden comes a time when the former vice president is seeking to unify the Democratic Party behind his campaign as the party’s presidential nominee after Bernie Sanders dropped out of the contest last week.