Former Vice President Joe Biden said he wishes he “could have done something” during Anita Hill’s hearing when she accused then-Supreme Court nominee Clearance Thomas of sexual harassment.
“She was abused through the hearing, she was taken advantage of, her reputation was attacked. I wish I could have done something, and I opposed Clarence Thomas’ nomination — I voted against him,” Biden said Tuesday at an event honoring young people who help combat sexual assault on college campuses.
Biden was the chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee at the time Hill testified in 1991 about her allegations against Thomas.
“To this day, I regret I couldn’t come up with a way to give her the kind of hearing she deserved,” Biden said.
During Thomas’ confirmation hearing decades ago, Hill, an attorney, came forward with allegations that Thomas sexually harassed her while she worked for him at the Department of Education and the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
Biden said that it was unfair to make Hill testify before “a bunch of white guys” who didn’t “fully understand” her perspective.
Hill’s experience is especially relevant after Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh faced similar allegations of sexual harassment and assault during his contentious confirmation hearing last year, which were delayed so the FBI could investigate. Biden’s 1991 comments drew renewed scrutiny during the Kavanaugh hearings, as he had argued the committee could not rely on what he called an “inconclusive” FBI report.
“The next person who refers to an FBI report as being worth anything obviously doesn’t understand anything. FBI explicitly does not, in this case or any other case, reach a conclusion, period. Period,” he said at the time.
While Biden has since said he owes Hill an apology, he said in January he has not done so directly.
Biden continues to weigh a presidential bid. If he were to enter, he would face an already crowded Democratic primary field.
