Biden Accuser Leaves Democrats Struggling to Reconcile #MeToo

(Bloomberg) -- A former aide’s allegation that Joe Biden sexually assaulted her nearly 30 years ago has put Democrats into a quandary, as they try to square their support for the #MeToo movement with their backing of a nominee who now stands accused himself.

Tara Reade says that when she worked in Biden’s Senate office in 1993, Biden pushed her against a wall in a Senate office building, put his hand up her skirt and sexually assaulted her with his fingers. She says she told family and complained to Biden’s then-executive assistant as well as two top aides, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman. Biden and those same staff members -- Kaufman still advises his presidential effort -- say it never happened.

The allegations are particularly troubling for Democrats who have taken a zero tolerance stance on sexual misconduct and were adamant about believing Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations of sexual misconduct during the confirmation hearing of Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh.

“All of us would be better served by not circling the wagons and not becoming what we accused Republicans of, and that is hypocrites on this issue,” said Gilda Cobb-Hunter, a South Carolina Democrat and president of the National Black Caucus of State Legislators. “Having said that, my support for the vice president has not changed.”

The issue hasn’t stopped Biden from getting endorsements from the most prominent women in the party, including Hillary Clinton and Nancy Pelosi.

Biden, 77, has made an appeal to women voters a key part of his campaign, promising during the primaries to pick a woman as his running mate. But he had to apologize early in the campaign for his personal style, in which he often placed his hands on women’s shoulders or touched their hair.

Biden supporters say they still favor him over President Donald Trump, who has faced numerous allegations of sexual misconduct against women, all of which the president has denied. But there has been a growing call for Biden to address the allegations head on, as he has never spoken about them in public, leaving all comments from the campaign to his representatives.

Tarana Burke, one of the founders of the #MeToo movement, shared her thoughts on Reade’s allegations on Twitter, arguing that Biden should tackle the accusations and “demonstrate what it looks like to be both accountable and electable.”

“Meaning, at minimum, acknowledging that his demonstrated learning curve around boundaries with women, at the very least, left him open to the plausibility of these claims. No matter what you believe, we are allowed to expect more of the person running for U.S. president,” Burke wrote in a lengthy Twitter thread.

The Biden campaign’s first response to the allegations came in an April 13 statement describing the former vice president’s record on women’s issues and denying the incident.

“He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press,” Kate Bedingfield, a deputy Biden campaign manager, said in the statement. “What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”

Talking points mirroring Bedingfield’s statement were sent around to surrogates, including women who hope to become Biden’s running mate.

A first set were sent soon after the New York Times published its April investigation of Reade’s claims, Buzzfeed reported, and a second were sent to surrogates on Saturday, after video emerged of a Larry King Live episode on CNN from the 1990s in which Reade’s mother seeks advice for her daughter’s problem with “a prominent senator.”

“All women have the right to be heard, and heard respectfully. And the independent press has the obligation to review those claims,“ read the April 25 talking points, which were obtained by Bloomberg News. They also argue that the King tape does not “corroborate” Reade’s sexual assault claim. Reade’s mother died in 2016.

On Monday, Business Insider reported that two additional women said Reade had also told them Biden had assaulted her, including one who said she is still voting for him.

The Trump campaign issued a press release on Wednesday accusing Biden of ducking questions about the alleged incident.

“As of the writing of this memo, Biden has not personally answered questions about the allegations” by Reade, the statement from campaign communications director Tim Murtaugh said.

Alyssa Milano, whose tweet amplified the MeToo hashtag, endorsed Biden and received harsh criticism for her approach to the Reade case, after an interview with SiriusXM in which she said: “I just don’t feel comfortable throwing away a decent man that I’ve known for 15 years in this time of complete chaos without there being a thorough investigation.”

After new developments came out this week, Milano issued a new statement: “I want Tara, like every other survivor, to have the space to be heard and seen without being used as fodder. I hear and see you, Tara.”

The campaign has declined to comment further. Biden has only taken questions in the past month from reporters for local television stations and they have not asked about Reade.

Some women who top the list of Biden’s possible running mates are echoing the campaign’s talking points.

Senators Kamala Harris and Amy Klobuchar, both Judiciary Committee members who questioned Kavanaugh and are said to be on Biden’s vice-presidential list, have said Reade deserves to be heard while touting Biden’s record on women’s rights.

“I believe women deserve to be heard, and I believe that has happened here,” Stacey Abrams, the former Georgia gubernatorial nominee who has been outspoken about her desire to be Biden’s running mate, said in a statement. “The New York Times conducted a thorough investigation, and nothing in the Times review or any other later reports suggests anything other than what I already know about Joe Biden: That he will make women proud as the next president of the United States.”

Harris, Klobuchar and Warren did not respond to requests for comment about Reade’s allegations. Another possible running mate for Biden, Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer, also did not respond to requests for comment.

Moe Vela, who worked in Biden’s vice presidential office, said the allegations are inconsistent with Biden’s behavior.

“I am absolutely certain that these allegations are unequivocally false,” Vela said. “I know Joe Biden’s integrity and character. He has never once demonstrated any behavior pattern, nor tendency, of this kind. Zero. Not one time in 18 months when I was his director of management with HR responsibilities did I see anything of the sort.”

One former top official for the Bernie Sanders campaign said on Twitter that Sanders’s former primary rival should drop out over the allegations.

“Now is the time to deal with the ramifications of Tara Reade’s accusations, not this fall,” said Claire Sandberg, who was national organizing director for Sanders. “There is simply no moral justification for Biden to continue as the presumptive nominee. Out of respect for survivors and for the good of the country, he should withdraw from the race.”

Kathleen Dolan, professor of political science and gender politics at the University of Wisconsin in Milwaukee, said the issue creates especially thorny issues for any woman who becomes Biden’s running mate.

“How successfully can she stand in public and embrace somebody who has all of these allegations when Democrats aren’t supposed to tolerate this stuff?” Dolan said. “We’re going to see a lot more women speaking on behalf of the campaign around these issues because they have more credibility than men do. But at some point Biden has got to directly respond and say this did not happen.”

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