Chris Dodd: Biden picks ex-senator accused of 'waitress sandwich' to choose his female running mate
Joe Biden has selected former senator and longtime pal Chris Dodd as a key member of his committee that will pick a female running mate for his 2020 presidential bid. This is despite the former Connecticut senator's alleged misconduct involving a woman at a D.C. restaurant in the 1980s.
The former vice president, who had promised that his running mate would be a woman, revealed his search committee a day after former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton endorsed him for the presidency, according to Slate magazine.
Biden is currently facing backlash for not issuing a public statement on sexual assault allegations brought against him by former Senate staffer Tara Reade. Meanwhile, his campaign has strongly denied the accusations and said they are untrue.
Dodd has known Biden for decades. The career politician served in the Senate from 1981 to 2001 and led the Senate Banking and Financial Services Committee. He also reportedly co-authored the Dodd-Frank legislation that bears his name.
Dodd was also a close friend of late Massachusetts Senator Ted Kennedy, and the two have previously come under fire for alleged alcohol-fueled misconduct.
A 1990 GQ piece by the late Michael Kelly detailed allegations about a boozy encounter the two men were allegedly involved in decades before the #MeToo movement saw the light of day and tarnished the reputations of several powerful men.
According to Kelly, details of the "waitress sandwich" story, originally published in Penthouse, were confirmed by the victim in question.
Kelly recounted the alleged December 1985 episode in the article, noting how the two men were finishing up a long dinner in a private room at the D.C. restaurant La Brasserie and were heavily "drunk."
"Their dates, two very young blondes, leave the table to go to the bathroom. (The dates are drunk too)," Kelly wrote. "Betty Loh, who served the foursome, also leaves the room. Raymond Campet, the co-owner of La Brasserie, tells [waitress Carla] Gaviglio the senators want to see her."
"As Gaviglio enters the room, the six-foot-two, 225-plus-pound Kennedy grabs the five-foot-three, 103-pound waitress and throws her on the table. She lands on her back, scattering crystal, plates, and cutlery, and the lit candles," he continued. "Several glasses and a crystal candlestick are broken. Kennedy then picks her up from the table and throws her on Dodd, who is sprawled in a chair."
"With Gaviglio on Dodd's lap, Kennedy jumps on top and begins rubbing his genital area against hers, supporting his weight on the arms of the chair," according to the story.
"As he is doing this, Loh enters the room. She and Gaviglio both scream, drawing one or two dishwashers. Startled, Kennedy leaps up. He laughs," Kelly wrote. "Bruised, shaken and angry over what she considered a sexual assault, Gaviglio runs from the room. Kennedy, Dodd, and their dates leave shortly thereafter, following a friendly argument between the senators over the check."
Carla Gaviglio, who was 24 at the time of the alleged incident, declined to be quoted but admitted the initially reported version was full and accurate, Kelly said.
Dodd once dated 'Star Wars' beauty Carrie Fisher, who later described her blind date with Dodd (involving Kennedy) in her memoir.
"So, do you think you'll be having sex with Chris at the end of your date?" Kennedy allegedly asked Fisher, who said Dodd then looked at her with "an unusual grin hanging on his very flushed face."
However, Fisher chose to gloss over the crude remark.
"I'd have to be truly loaded to just fall into bed with someone I've only recently met. Even if that someone is a Democrat," she wrote in a Washington Post account of her description of the date.
That said, Dodd's appointment is really not helping the Biden camp, after the former VP himself is under scrutiny for misconduct with women, with several coming out during the campaign trail claiming he touched their neck and hair in ways that made them uncomfortable.
Tara Reade, Biden's most recent accuser, has claimed he forced himself on her and penetrated her with his fingers back in 1983. Her claims have been brushed off by Biden's camp as "untrue."
However, Dodd "has been a longtime friend and colleague of Vice President Biden for almost forty years," according to his campaign.
Dodd also is "no stranger to the importance of the upcoming election, having both served as the General Chairman of the Democratic National Committee during the reelection of Bill Clinton, and having co-authored landmark election reform legislation after the controversial 2000 election."
All things considered, the possible contenders for Biden's running mate are Senators Kamala Harris of California, Stacey Abrams of Georgia, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, and Governor Gretchen Whitmer of Michigan.