Tara Reade’s lawyer blasted a report released last week by Politico that detailed his client’s history with landlords and others.
Douglas Wigdor, the attorney for Reade, who has accused Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden of sexually harassing and assaulting her while she was an aide in his Senate office in the early 1990s, reacted to the article, which compiled on-the-record statements from people with whom Reade interacted in the past, with some surmising she was “manipulative” and a “liar.”
“The Politico hit piece (and others like it) demonstrate the hypocrisy and double standard. Relying on rape myths that have been debunked will only deter other survivors from coming forward for fear of smear pieces such as these. There is no probative value to the vast majority of the information contained within these articles even if the information were true,” Wigdor wrote to the Washington Examiner. “It seems that the Biden camp along with many in the mainstream media have adopted the Weinstein defense playbook.”
Wigdor represented six people who accused disgraced Hollywood producer Harvey Weinstein of sexually abusing them. In public interviews, Wigdor discussed how it was common behavior for victims of sexual abuse to interact or maintain contact with those accused of committing the act.
Critics have cited Reade’s praise of Biden on social media in recent years while raising questions about the trustworthiness of her allegations. In an interview with journalist Megyn Kelly this month, Reade said she would be willing to testify under oath about her claims, challenging Biden to take a polygraph test. Biden has vehemently denied the allegations.
“While Weinstein’s defense team were widely criticized for this sort of victim shaming, when it comes to Tara Reade, a different standard applies. What’s amazing, is that Ms. Reade has undergone several interviews and answered all of the questions put to her while Biden seems to get a pass with his blanket denial of ‘it never happened,'” Wigdor told the Washington Examiner.
According to Reade, Biden forced himself on her in the spring of 1993, kissing her and penetrating her with his fingers without her consent. Dozens of former Biden staffers have said they never witnessed sexual misconduct by Biden nor heard any allegations before Reade came forward. They told PBS that she still deserves to be heard.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Politico for comment but did not receive a response for publication.
Politico included comments from Wigdor in response to the premise of its article. “If the assertion is that someone who has lied to their landlord because they don’t have the money to pay rent so then they lied about a sexual assault, I don’t think that is fair journalism,” Wigdor told Politico.
Reade also denied the version of events described by Lynn Hummer, one of the article’s sources and an owner of a horse sanctuary where Reade volunteered, on social media in late April. Reade threatened legal action for defamation in response, writing, “You may not continue to spread false information regarding my life.”
You will stop Lynn Hummer. You have been reported for animal neglect to Santa Cruz county. Stop soliciting funds using my sexual assault story as leverage. A lawyer will be in contact with you for defaming me. You may not continue to spread false information regarding my life.
— taratweets ( Alexandra Tara Reade) (@ReadeAlexandra) April 20, 2020
Reade reportedly canceled a TV interview on Fox News Sunday in May because of a growing number of death threats she and her daughter were facing.
She has also voiced concerns about the potential of Republicans using her story to politicize the issue of sexual assault. “What I would say about Republicans using this story is please don’t politicize it,” Reade told the Washington Examiner in an interview last month. “There are many people who identify with Republican politics that have that are also survivors and have also been silenced.”
“If they want to talk about sexual assault, sexual harassment in a general way, then this would be the time to have a general conversation. That has nothing to do with being Democrat or Republican, but just to empower women to be safer in their workplaces and safer in general,” Reade added.
Reade, who identified as a lifelong Democrat, said she has never been a supporter of President Trump but that she is no longer a Democrat.
