House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy criticized Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s support for former Vice President Joe Biden in the wake of allegations by former staffer Tara Reade that he sexually assaulted her when she worked in his Senate office.
“She’s a hypocrite,” McCarthy said when asked about Pelosi’s decision to continue backing Biden despite the claim by Reade that Biden sexually assaulted her in a Senate hallway in 1993.
“Has she ever talked to Tara Reade? Has she ever looked into it?” McCarthy asked.
Republicans are questioning why Democrats are not eager to investigate Reade’s claims against Biden after their universal opposition to the confirmation of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, who was accused of a sexual assault that allegedly took place while he was in high school.
“She endorsed Joe Biden, after knowing the Tara Reade situation,” McCarthy said. “Did anyone follow up with a question to the speaker? When you first went to endorse Joe Biden, did you first look at this? Does she think his lack of a response is a good enough response?”
Pelosi, a California Democrat, told CNN earlier Thursday that Biden’s lack of response to Reade’s accusation is “a matter he has to deal with.”
But Pelosi said she stands behind her endorsement of Biden.
She told reporters in the Capitol on Thursday there is no record of Reade’s complaint among Biden’s staff.
“I have great comfort level with the situation as I see it, with all the respect in the world for any woman who comes forward, with all the highest regard for Joe Biden, and that’s what I have to say about that,” Pelosi said.
McCarthy, a California Republican, said Pelosi is applying a different standard to the Biden claim.
“Then to me, that’s being a hypocrite based upon the past comments she made on other situations similar to this,” McCarthy said.
