The woman who accused Joe Biden of sexual assault has said she’s “lost total respect” for CNN’s Anderson Cooper for not asking the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee about the allegations.
Tara Reade has claimed Biden pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers when she was working as a staff assistant in his Senate office in the 1990s. Biden has had more than a dozen TV interviews since her allegations resurfaced last month, including two with Cooper.
“I really would look to [Cooper] for answers and I would never do that again. I’ve lost total respect,” Reade told Fox News on Saturday, adding that she finds it difficult “as a civilian” to know “what news source to trust” because shows such as Cooper’s have a “blatant bias.”
Reade claimed that a “political agenda” is playing a role in what she feels is underreporting by some media outlets on her allegations.
“I think it’s shocking that this much time has passed and that he is an actual nominee for president and they’re not asking the questions,” she said. “He’s been on Anderson Cooper at least twice where he was not asked.
“I guess my question is, if this were Donald Trump, would they treat it the same way? If this were Brett Kavanaugh, did they treat it the same way?” she continued. “In other words, it’s politics and political agenda playing a role in objective reporting and asking the question.”
Reade said that both Biden and some news anchors are playing a role in why he hasn’t been asked by more journalists about the allegations.
“There are two things happening at once. [Biden] is not making himself accessible to be asked the question. And when he does make himself accessible, they are not asking, those anchors. And so that tells there may be a political agenda behind that and that’s gross. … I’m a survivor and I would like the question asked,” she said.
Footage was uncovered Friday that shows Reade’s mother calling in to Larry King’s show in 1993 corroborating the claims. The video sparked criticism from former Democratic presidential candidate Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders’s staffers for his now-defunct campaign.
“The video of Tara Reade’s late mother calling into Larry King to blow the whistle about about Tara’s sexual assault is being met with relative silence from a cadre of progressives right now and I want you all to know that I see you. We all do,” a former Sanders campaign adviser said on Twitter on Friday in response to the news of the video.
