Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade slams TV anchors for not asking him questions about sexual assault claim
Tara Reade, the 56-year-old woman who has accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her over two decades ago, slammed the mainstream media of letting him off the hook on the issue. Among the TV news anchors who drew her ire was CNN’s Anderson Cooper and she said she has lost respect for the noted TV journalist.
It was over a month ago that Reade accused Biden, a former long-time senator from Delaware, of forcibly kissing, groping, and even penetrating her with fingers back in 1993 when she served as his aide. Biden, who is conducting his election campaign from his home in the Diamond State because of the pandemic, has appeared in a number of interviews with some of America’s most popular news anchors but the Reade issue has remained untouched. Besides Cooper, Biden has also spoken to Chuck Todd (NBC News), George Stephanopoulos (ABC News) and others since the revelation but they did not ask anything on the issue either.
Over the weekend, Reade, who was 29 at the time of the alleged assault, told Fox News: “I think it's shocking that this much time has passed and that he is an actual nominee for president and they're not asking the questions.”
“He's been on 'Anderson Cooper' at least twice where he was not asked,” she added.
Reade then said the anchors’ failure to bring up the issue has made her lose her trust in their coverage and added that she would not expect Cooper ever again to bring out the answers from Biden for she has lost respect for him totally.
"I really would look to [Cooper] for answers and I would never do that again. I've lost total respect," she said.
Biden appeared on the CNN anchor’s show at least twice since Reade’s accusations surfaced but not once did the controversial episode come up for discussion.
According to Reade, Biden himself is not making himself accessible to be asked the question and when he is, the anchors are not asking him the question. She suspected that there is a political agenda at play and called it “gross."
Would it be the same if it were Trump or Kavanaugh, asks Reade
She then asked whether things would have been the same had conservatives like President Donald Trump or Supreme Court Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh been the accused. Both Trump and Kavanaugh have faced massive controversies in the past after a number of women accused them of indulging in sexual offenses.
“I guess my question is, if this were Donald Trump, would they treat it the same way? If this were Brett Kavanaugh, did they treat it the same way?” Reade asked.
“In other words, it's politics and political agenda playing a role in objective reporting and asking the question,” she added.
Biden’s discomforting approach towards women of all ages has been making the headlines for some time. But it was only after Reade came up with her explosive allegations that the former vice president’s acts towards women came under scrutiny. Her story first came in an article in The Intercept on March 25. She then described it in a podcast interview with journalist Katie Halper.
Reade alleged that the assault happened when she was asked to deliver a gym bag to Biden and when she reached him at Capitol Hill, she found that he remembered her name. There, according to Reade, Biden had her up against the wall as they were alone. She said Biden’s hands explored her body and his fingers penetrated her. He even kissed her while violating her dignity, the accusation went. Reade said when she tried to avoid it, Biden looked upset and told her that he heard she liked him.
“He implied that I had done this,” Reade said in the podcast. Reade even said that the former senator told her: “You’re nothing to me."
The woman added that she tried to get her superiors’ notice to Biden’s act but only found her own duty to be curtailed after she refused to serve drinks at one event. She alleged that Biden wanted her serving because he liked her legs. Eventually, Reade left in August 1993 after having worked for only nine months as she felt to be pushed out.
Earlier in April, Reade filed a criminal complaint against the Democrat with the Washington DC Police. Biden and his campaign have, meanwhile, denied the allegations vehemently. “What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen,” the Democratic candidate’s Deputy Campaign Manager Kate Bedingfield said in a statement.
Similarly, Trump had a major controversy just ahead of the 2016 presidential election when an old audio surfaced in which he was heard making lewd remarks about women and saying: “grab ’em by the p***y." The issue exploded but yet Trump went on to clinch victory defeating his female opponent Hillary Clinton.
Daily Mail cited observers to say in a report that the inadequate attention given to Reade's allegations are likely because of the fact that Biden is ahead of Trump in polls and seeing the incumbent out of office is the biggest priority for the Democrats, who tried their best to derail Kavanaugh's confirmation to the apex court over decades-old sexual offense charges against him.