MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” host Mika Brzezinski grilled the presumptive Democratic Presidential nominee Joe Biden over allegations of sexual assault. Former Biden staffer, Tara Reade, levied her complaint against the former Vice President. Reade also filed a police report in Washington. DC Police are actively investigating the case. The interview marks the very first time Biden has publicly addressed the accusations.
Mika asked the former VP some very pointed questions during the interview. Her first question was as bold as can be. “Did you sexually assault Tara Reade?” Biden answered forcefully. “No, it is not true, I’m saying unequivocally it never, never happened.”
A common theme from Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s hearings was allegations of sexual assault from Christine Blasey-Ford. She got a ton of air-time and attention from big-name media types. More than a handful of Democrats called for him to not be confirmed. After his confirmation, many others called for his impeachment. All over an allegation.
“Believe all women” was the rallying cry during Kavanaugh’s confirmation. And also during Trump’s campaign. That does not seem to be the case with Joe Biden. At least not from the mainstream media and Democratic apparatus.
Biden’s team released a full statement on Medium in which the former VP denies all allegations in full detail. So one can assume that Biden had all his talking points in order. And he did not veer too far off the reservation on television.
That was… until Mika began to ask specific questions about records. This is when things get tricky. Biden appears to have read his prepared statement pointing to the National Archive as the location where records are. So if there is a sexual assault claim, National Archive would be the place to find it. But other records relating to his time in the US Senate are at the University of Delaware.
Biden does not want anyone rifling through his records at the University (although his team did, recently.) He says there’s nothing to see there because everything is at the National Archive. But the National Archive responded. They say records that Biden speaks of are not there.
Other records, unrelated to the assault claim – like conversations with foreign powers – are at the University. That could be why Joe does not want anyone going through them. Or maybe something… else is there. Like a smoking gun with Tara Reade’s name on it.