The Senate office that Joe Biden asked to search for a possible complaint filed against him by a former aide alleging that he sexually assaulted and harassed her almost three decades ago says it wouldn’t be able to release the document or any supporting evidence if it exists in its archives.
Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, requested last week that Julie Adams, the secretary of the Senate, and her team look for a complaint from Tara Reade, 56, who worked for him in 1993, asking that they release any relevant documents to the public.
But Adams put out a statement Monday morning saying her office had sought legal advice that concluded she couldn’t help Biden or Reade.
“Based on the law’s strict confidentiality requirements (Section 313) and the Senate’s own direction that disclosure of Senate Records is not authorized if prohibited by law … Senate Legal Counsel advises that the Secretary has no discretion to disclose any such information,” Adams wrote.
News —> the Secretary of the Senate says in new statement it has “no discretion” to disclose records involving Tara Reade as requested by the Biden campaign pic.twitter.com/1zor4Laj2i
— Seung Min Kim (@seungminkim) May 4, 2020
Adams’s response is a blow to Reade, who has been calling on Biden to publish a trove of Senate materials he donated to the University of Delaware that could corroborate her claims. Reade alleges that Biden forcibly kissed her and penetrated her with his fingers in addition to inappropriately touching her hair and neck. She says she made an office complaint at the time but didn’t receive a copy of it. She has, however, stated that it doesn’t mention the alleged assault.
Biden, in reaction, maintains that the University of Delaware collection doesn’t contain personnel files and asserted that a complete review of the donation hasn’t been finished.
The two-term vice president and 36-year Delaware senator, as well as his campaign, has denied Reade’s accusations. Last week, during his first public and direct response to her claims, he insisted her story “never happened,” noting that none of his aides at the time were aware of the incident and that there were inconsistencies in her different retellings.
