Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democrats said Monday they back Joe Biden as the Democratic nominee for president in spite of allegations by former aide Tara Reade that he sexually assaulted her in 1993 when he was a senator.
Warren and other Democrats said they listened to Biden’s denial during an MSNBC interview last week and are satisfied with the former vice president’s response to Reade’s claim.
“The vice president’s answers were credible and convincing,” Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat and former candidate for president, told reporters as she headed into the chamber to vote. “I support the vice president. I support his campaign, and I am proud to endorse him for president.”
Biden told MSNBC’s Morning Joe Reade’s claim is not true. “I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened,” he said during the interview on Friday.
Democrats suggested the matter has been fully vetted by the media and has been proven untrue.
“I have great confidence in Joe Biden as our nominee,” said Rep. Chris Coons, a Delaware Democrat. “The vice president has urged that it be fully and thoroughly investigated by the press, and it has been.”
Sen Richard Blumenthal, a Connecticut Democrat who was among the first Democrats to call on Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh’s nomination to be withdrawn when a sexual assault allegation dating back to his high school years surfaced, defended Biden.
“He has been straightforward and seemingly very honest,” Blumenthal said.
But Blumenthal added, “There may be more questions for him to answer.”
Biden has called on the secretary of the Senate to search the National Archives for a record of Reade’s complaint.
Senate Secretary Julie Adams said Monday she “has no discretion” to disclose any of the information Biden is seeking.
Sen. Dianne Feinstein of California, who as the top Democrat on the Judiciary Committee led the effort to try to derail Kavanaugh’s nomination in 2018, said Biden should be able to release Senate records if he chooses to do so. But she opposes any kind of formal probe into whether the claim against the presumptive Democratic nominee is true.
“I think we ought to find out whether the allegations are correct before you launch a big investigation of the former vice president,” said Feinstein.
