Republican National Committee Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel accused the media of a double-standard in their coverage of sexual misconduct allegations against Joe Biden and Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.
“It has been appalling, the hypocrisy, as to how Brett Kavanaugh was treated versus Joe Biden,” McDaniel said Sunday on ABC’s This Week. “Brett Kavanaugh — every accuser was put on TV, it was wall to wall coverage. They went into his high school yearbook. They said he needed an FBI investigation. Michael Avenatti was on TV accusing him of gang rape from an accuser who’d never even met Brett Kavanaugh.”
McDaniel continued, “And then you go to Joe Biden: five weeks of silence, 19 interviews without a single question. He won’t let people go into his records. … They’re calling on the DNC to do the investigation.”
The chairwoman lamented that Democrats have gone from a posture of “MeToo, MeToo, MeToo to ‘move on, move on, move on’ in a nanosecond because he’s a Democrat.”
Tara Reade, who worked for Biden when he was a senator, alleged that he pushed her against a wall and sexually assaulted her in 1993. The former vice president last week denied the incident ever happened.
Kavanaugh was accused of sexual misconduct and assault weeks before he was set to be confirmed by the U.S. Senate to the Supreme Court in 2018. Some of the Democrats who opposed Kavanaugh’s nomination based on his accusers’ claims have said they believe Biden’s denial.
“And the hypocrisy is appalling. And it’s not just from the Democrats, it’s from the media,” McDaniel said. “And I’ll tell you, I think any outlet that conducted those 19 interviews and didn’t ask a single question should be disqualified from conducting any part of a presidential debate.”
The New York Times editorial board this week urged the Democratic National Committee to conduct an independent investigation into the claims against Biden. The Washington Free Beacon reported Biden conducted at least 19 interviews on television and in other media since Reade came forward with her complaint. He was not asked about her allegations until Thursday.
“I don’t remember any type of complaint she may have made. It was 27 years ago. … I don’t remember, nor does anyone else that I’m aware of,” Biden addressed the claim.
