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'What about Tara Reid?' Joe Biden accuser resurfaces amid Andrew Cuomo sexual harassment scandal

Reade's accusation that Biden sexually assaulted her while she was part of his Senate staff is coming back to haunt Democrats

Sexual assault allegations made by former Senate staffer Tara Reade against Joe Biden are suddenly back in the public eye with accusations against New York Governor Andrew Cuomo.

According to Reade, Democrats in the New York state legislature are stiff-arming calls by liberals and Republicans to impeach the governor owing to the parallels between the Biden and Cuomo situations. “I think, too, it has to do with the fact that if they investigate Cuomo, they’re going to have to investigate Biden. And I’m here,” Reade said while speaking to Green Party leaders Howie Hawkins and Angela Walker in an online discussion.

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“And I said that I would go under oath if they would do a congressional investigation into Biden,” Reade said. “So I think that there’s enough talk going on with the power elites, and I also think that they’re arguing because Cuomo’s people are probably saying to Biden’s people, ‘Hey, you all circled the wagons for Biden, now circle the wagon for me.’”

Cuomo has strongly denied sexual misconduct and harassment allegations leveled by at least eight women, most of them former staffers. Last year, Biden emphatically rejected Reade’s accusation about a 1993 encounter, saying the incident “never, never happened.” Critics lashed out at the president after he appeared to sympathize with Cuomo's accusers, when he told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos that “a woman should be presumed telling the truth and should not be scapegoated and become victimized by her coming forward.”

Biden asserted that Cuomo must resign if the probe found he had committed harassment. “I think that he’ll probably end up being prosecuted, too,” he added. “It takes a lot of courage to come forward,” Biden went on to explain. “So the presumption is they should be taken seriously. And it should be investigated. And that’s what’s underway now.”

Twitter users inundated social media with “what about Tara Reade” comments. Former Democratic strategist Peter Daou tweeted that Biden “has more than a half dozen accusations of sexual misconduct and numerous videos of him violating the physical boundaries of women and girls.”

Conservative columnist Tammy Bruce slammed Stephanopoulos, a former Clinton aide, for not asking Biden “the natural next question … Tara Reade, Lucy Flores, etc.,” referring to the former Nevada state legislator who accused Biden of sniffing her hair and kissing her on the back of the head. "Hearing @JoeBiden speak out about the Andrew Cuomo sexual assault allegations is disgusting & the ultimate hypocrisy. Hey, Joe, WHAT ABOUT TARA READE?? Didn't she deserve to be believed & have an investigation?" another Twitter user added.

Last week, New York Democrats Senators Charles E Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand also called on Cuomo to resign over “multiple, credible sexual harassment and misconduct allegations.” In response, the governor called such comments “reckless and dangerous.” Clinton accuser Juanita Broaddrick also gave her two cents, tweeting, “The Biden White House not happy about Schumer calling on Cuomo to resign … maybe they think it will encourage more Biden sexual assault victims to join Tara Reade.”

Reade said she is trying to work on behalf of sexual assault survivors by turning her “rage into outrage," especially after being viewed as "the bad guy" for coming forward with her allegations.

“I’m still kind of the villain, the bad guy, for coming forward, the bad person for coming forward,” Reade said, likening her situation to that of Cuomo accuser Lindsey Boylan. “What was it, Biden’s saving the soul of America? Well, he didn’t save mine," she added.