Lucy Flores, a former Nevada state assemblywoman who claims former Vice President Joe Biden inappropriately touched her, said Biden’s quips about receiving permission to hug people are “incredibly disrespectful.”
“Frankly, to me it demonstrated that the words that he said — that he was going to take this very seriously, that he was going to listen, that he was going to learn — to me, that indicated that he didn’t mean that at all,” Flores said Monday on Fox News.
Flores, who alleges Biden gave her an unwelcome kiss on the back of her head at a campaign rally in 2014, said that women “have had to endure this kind of inappropriate behavior on behalf of powerful men certainly for as long as I’ve been alive — you know, forever.”
Shortly after Flores shared her allegations against Biden, the former vice president joked at an event for electrical workers that he had permission to embrace the union leader that introduced him.
Flores isn’t the only one who has alleged Biden has invaded their personal space. Amy Lappos, a former congressional aide to Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., also claims Biden touched her inappropriately at a political fundraiser in 2009 when he tried to “rub noses” with her.
Biden, who is poised to launch a 2020 presidential bid later this week, has defended his behavior and said that he will remain the “strongest advocate” for the rights of women. Biden did share a video where he acknowledged that “social norms have begun to change” and that he would be more cognizant of personal space in the future.
