Tara Reade’s allegation that Joe Biden acted inappropriately toward her has been made more credible by a revelation that strongly suggests she complained to her mother about “problems” related to working in Biden’s office around the time she left the job.
To be sure, the news doesn’t prove Reade’s underlying claim that Biden pushed her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers while a staffer in his office, but there is now solid evidence that she complained about Biden’s behavior at the time. That alone is something that could never be said for Christine Blasey Ford’s accusation against Brett Kavanaugh.
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The latest development comes as the Intercept has found a piece of hard evidence that proves she complained to at least one person, her late mother, shortly after leaving her job. A listener of the left-wing outlet found a call to Larry King Live in 1993, which Reade had claimed was her mother. The date and location from the call transcript does not conclusively show that the woman calling in was indeed Reade’s mother. But the timing and context are consistent with Reade’s account.
“I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington?” Reade’s mother says, according to the transcript. “My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.”
The call was from August 1993, the last month records indicate that Reade worked for Biden and around the summer time frame she made in her initial claim of assault.
Under a reasonable standard, we consider the available evidence at hand: We have three witnesses, who, though alive, all have a number of corroborative problems. Her brother and a friend both claim that Reade alleged some sort of misconduct at the time, but the former notably changed his story to the Washington Post. The second friend has remained publicly anonymous and has never been directly quoted, so the substance of what Reade alleged is still unclear. A third friend has been brought forward as a corroborating witness, but she only heard about the story 15 years after the fact.
But now, there’s strong evidence that Reade complained to her mother that some sort of misconduct occurred. That complaint could’ve ranged from random unprofessional neck strokes as she once claimed to outright penetrative assault as she does today. But the fact is that a complaint seems to have been made. This does not rise to the preponderance of evidence, and if nothing further is found, it shouldn’t disqualify Biden from the presidency. But this allegation is absolutely one that must be further investigated, especially when considering its strengths next to that made by Blasey Ford against Kavanaugh.
Consider, no one denies that Reade worked for Biden’s office during the time frame she alleges he assaulted her. By contrast, there’s not a shred of evidence that Kavanaugh and Blasey Ford ever even met. The witnesses called upon by reporters investigating Reade’s claim haven’t refuted that she once worked for Biden, only the substance of her claim and if she filed a complaint against the then-senator. Compare that to the people Blasey Ford claimed were at the party where Kavanaugh assaulted her. Not one, including one of her good lifelong friends, remembers such a party ever happening. And furthermore, not one witness could corroborate that Blasey Ford ever made the assault claim until decades after.
Again, a cultural understanding that we must take sexual assault allegations seriously and punish offenders if proven guilty doesn’t discount the utmost importance of the presumption of innocence, and right now, the evidence still doesn’t prove that Biden more likely than not assaulted Reade. And no, that the Biden allegation is new doesn’t make the allegations of groping, sexual battery, and even one of rape against President Trump any less relevant. But there’s enough evidence that this question really should be the investigative subject of every newsroom in the country.
