House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she is “satisfied” with Joe Biden’s response to the allegation that he sexually assaulted a former Senate aide in the early 1990s.
That is really quite something, considering the former vice president has never addressed the charge.
Pelosi’s remarks came Thursday during an appearance on CNN. The speaker was asked specifically to comment on Biden’s handling of the allegation brought against him by former Senate aide Tara Reade.
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota asked, “Do you think that it is time for Vice President Biden to address this head-on himself?”
“Well,” said Pelosi, “I have great sympathy for any women who bring forth an allegation. I’m a big, strong supporter of the #MeToo movement. I think it’s been a great — made a great contribution to our country.”
She then added in the next breath, “And I do support Joe Biden. I’m satisfied with how he has responded. I know him, I was proud to endorse him on Monday, very proud to endorse him. And so, I’m satisfied with that.”
Camerota persisted, noting correctly that Biden has not actually said anything yet about Reade’s claim that he assaulted her in 1993, back when she worked for him as a Senate aide.
“Should [Biden] directly, publicly address it?” asked the CNN host.
“You know,” Pelosi said, now truly fumbling for an answer, “it’s a matter that he has to deal with. But I am impressed with the people who work for him at the time, saying that, absolutely, never heard one iota of information about this, nobody ever brought forth a claim or had anybody else tell them about such a claim.”
“But, again,” the speaker continued, “we have an important election at hand, one that is, I think, one of the most important ones that we’ve had. We say that every election, but I think this is the most crucial, and I supported [Biden] because he’s a person of great values, integrity, authenticity, imagination, and connection to the American people.”
The interview ended shortly thereafter.
For the record, Biden has not actually addressed the allegation. In fact, he has yet to be asked a single direct question about Reade’s charge, according to a Washington Free Beacon review of 19 media interviews and more than 140 questions. The best defense that the Biden campaign has come up with so far is to say flatly that Reade’s version of events “did not happen.” The Biden campaign has also instructed its surrogates to cite a New York Times investigative report as proof of his innocence — the same report that New York Times editors foolishly allowed Biden’s campaign to edit. For its own part, the New York Times says Biden’s campaign is misrepresenting its coverage.
All of this is apparently good enough for Pelosi, who wasted no time in 2018 declaring Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh guilty on a far flimsier allegation with far less corroborating evidence.
It is amazing how quickly a person’s standards can change depending on party affiliation.
