Rep. Dina Titus argued that sexual misconduct allegations against former Vice President Joe Biden were “put to rest” when he denied them in a televised interview.
Biden, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, was accused of sexually harassing and assaulting Tara Reade, a woman who worked in his Senate office in the early 1990s. Reade, 52, accused him of inappropriately touching her and penetrating her with his fingers while forcibly kissing her without her consent, which he has denied.
In an interview on MSNBC Wednesday morning, Titus said Biden’s denial was enough for her to back his White House run despite her being “strong supporter of the #MeToo movement.”
“Well, I’m a strong supporter of the #MeToo movement, have been from the beginning, and I believe women should be believed, and I believe they should be heard,” the Nevada Democrat said. “And their stories should be vetted. They shouldn’t be afraid to come forward.”
“But Joe Biden went on TV. He answered the question unequivocally. He didn’t say, ‘In my memory’ or ‘I don’t recall.’ He said, ‘I didn’t do it.’ It’s been vetted. He called on the secretary of the Senate to release any information. I think it’s put to rest,” she added.
Biden denied Reade’s claims in an interview on MSNBC’s Morning Joe last week. He went on to request that Julie Adams, the secretary of the Senate, and her team look for a complaint Reade said she filed concerning sexual harassment, asking that any relevant documents be released to the public. After seeking legal advice, however, Adams announced that she could not legally release documents because of the “law’s strict confidentiality requirements.”
Reade has also sought for Biden to release his personal archives, which are currently sealed and stored at the University of Delaware. Biden refused to unseal those documents when asked about releasing them during the interview, claiming that such a complaint wouldn’t be in those files anyway.
