Rose McGowan lashes out at NYT scribe over alleged 'twisted' questions to Biden accuser Tara Reade
Actor Rose McGowan on Sunday hit out at a New York Times journalist over the questions the latter allegedly sent to Tara Reade to answer. Reade, a former Senate staffer, recently accused presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden of digitally raping and humiliating her in an empty office in Capitol Hill way back in 1993. Reade, now 56, was an aide to the former vice president, who was a senator from Delaware then. While Biden has denied the charge throughout despite facing criticism, Reade was recently dropped as a client by Douglas Wigdor, a Donald Trump donor.
McGowan accused both Lisa Lehrer, the NYT journalist who also works as a political analyst for CNN, and her publication, for trying to twist people's minds by asking the questions tactfully. In a tweet, the 46-year-old 'The Sound' actor said: "New York Times 'journalist' sent these questions to Joe Biden's accuser, Tara Reade. The public needs to see how @llerer and the #NYT plan on twisting their minds. Now you can all see their tactics & how far they will go." McGowan, one of the accusers of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, also posted with her tweet screenshots of questions that many complained were presented to make Reade look like a Russian agent. A picture of a young Reade dancing with some men also featured in McGowan's post. It was though not clear how McGowan got hold of those questionnaires or the picture.
Reade was asked personal questions
Many of the questions that were put before Reade were personal, related to her career moves or relationship issues. One query was about dating a Russian man while another pointed out that she followed three Russian individuals on Quora. "On Quora, you followed three Russian individuals – Andrey Davydov, Dima Vorobiev and Alex Korolev. How was it that you came to know of them and follow them?" the question read.
She was also asked questions about her mother and ex-husband Ted Dronen and former boyfriend Edward Walker. She was also asked about her financial struggles. Lerer was not found addressing the issue raised by McGowan but was seen promoting a story co-written by her about Reade losing her attorney on May 21.
'Portraying Reade as Russian asset'
However, there were others who slammed the questions that were put before Reade. Glenn Greenwald, a journalist from The Intercept which had reported about Reade's revelation in late March, called the episode "disgusting" in a tweet. "This whole thing from the @NYTimes is disgusting but the last questions - involving interrogating Tara Reade about whether she committed the crime of "following three Russian individuals on Quora" and demanding an explanation - is just deranged," he said.
Author Candace Ownes also blasted the questions to tweet: "WOW! Look at these questions that a NY Times reporter sent Tara Reade. From what I can discern, they are working to portray her as a Russian asset that doesn't pay her rent."
Reade has also been suspected in the past to have a Russia link. While she was found attacking Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, often on Twitter in 2017, and liking and retweeting anti-Russia tweets, the year 2018 saw her taking a 180-degree turn and starting to praise Putin. Through many blog posts on Medium, she seemed having turned into a Putin admirer and in an article in November 2018, titled 'Why a Liberal Democrat Supports Vladimir Putin', Reade wrote: "President Putin has an alluring combination of strength with gentleness. His sensuous image projects his love for life, the embodiment of grace while facing adversity. It is evident that he loves his country, his people and his job."