Former Vice President Joe Biden has yet to face questions about a sexual assault allegation from a former staffer despite sitting down for a multitude of interviews since it surfaced.
Tara Reade, a Biden staffer in 1993, alleged that the then-senator kissed her and used his fingers to penetrate her without consent. The presumptive Democratic nominee has vehemently denied the allegations.
Biden has sat for 10 interviews with major news outlets since March 24, the day Reade came forward, according to the Washington Free Beacon. In those interviews, which spanned more than two hours, he answered 81 questions, and none of them were about Reade.
The lack of questions the vice president has faced in interviews on CNN and MSNBC in recent weeks rivaled the lack of coverage from print media in the aftermath of the allegations. Legacy media outlets largely opted not to cover the allegation until Reade filed a criminal complaint against Biden last week.
“I filed a police report for safety reasons only. All crim stats beyond limitations. Gratitude for all who have stood by me,” Reade tweeted at the time.
The report opened the way for a litany of stories that added new information to allegations made by the woman in interviews from outlets such as the New York Times on Sunday, followed by the Washington Post, the Associated Press, and NBC News, which came weeks after left-wing outlets, such as the Katie Halper Podcast and the Intercept, broke the story.
Reade has faced questions about her credibility, with detractors noting that she previously complained of uncomfortable interactions with Biden but nothing rising to this level, with others pointing out her support for Biden’s last remaining Democratic primary opponent, Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
