
Late Thursday, Joe Biden’s campaign went after his accuser, Tara Reade, stating that women “must receive the benefit of the doubt” but refraining from offering this courtesy to his former Senate staffer, dismissing her allegations as “false.”
Team Biden Goes After Reade
“As someone who committed himself to changing the culture surrounding violence against women in this country, Vice President Biden knows it is paramount that women should come forward and be heard respectfully,” Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager, said in a statement.
Biden Campaign Attacks Tara Reade Yet Claims 'Women Must Receive the Benefit of the Doubt' https://t.co/X3U4RxEzRe pic.twitter.com/2C7YJxgK3U
— JEETPOLITIC (@jettpolitic) May 8, 2020
“But it is also the duty of the press to base their assessment of claims on careful and exhaustive review of the facts. And an inescapable fact in the case of these false allegations is that more and more inconsistencies keep emerging,” she added, citing Reade’s remarks in an Associated Press interview last year.
“I wasn’t scared of him, that he was going to take me in a room or anything. It wasn’t that kind of vibe,” Reade was quoted as saying, with Bedingfield adding that it was the “complete opposite of the current allegation, first made in March of this year.”
MK EXCLUSIVE: Former Biden staffer #TaraReade, who accuses FMR VP #JoeBiden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, sits down w/me in her first on-camera interview since Mr. Biden denied her accusations. Her story & some tough Q’s in a riveting exchange. A ton of news coming … pic.twitter.com/8bvTntUIm8
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) May 7, 2020
Biden Campaign: ‘Every day, more and more inconsistencies arise’
Bedingfield also noted a Vox story which reported that the “anonymous friend who now backs Reade’s current allegation,” told a “very different story last year about Reade’s experience” in describing the way Biden allegedly touched her.
“Every day, more and more inconsistencies arise,” she continued, saying that “women must receive the benefit of the doubt.”
“They must be able to come forward and share their stories without fear of retribution or harm — and we all have a responsibility to ensure that,” the Team Biden spokeswoman continued.
“At the same time, we can never sacrifice the truth. And the truth is that these allegations are false and that the material that has been presented to back them up, under scrutiny, keeps proving their falsity,” she concluded.
Joe Biden's deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield has released a new statement about Tara Reade, and what she says are "more and more inconsistencies" that come up every day.
Full statement: pic.twitter.com/DSi1R6XrzT
— MJ Lee (@mj_lee) May 7, 2020
This response from Biden’s campaign came in the wake of an interview released Thursday in which Tara Reade spoke with journalist Megyn Kelly about the alleged ordeal in 1993.
MK EXCLUSIVE: #TaraReade responds to #JoeBiden; calls for him to drop out pic.twitter.com/jxHAUYaWVU
— Megyn Kelly (@megynkelly) May 7, 2020
Reade said, “No, it’s been stunning, actually, how some of his surrogates with the blue checks that have been saying really horrible things about me and to me on social media. He hasn’t himself, but there’s a measure of hypocrisy with the campaign saying it’s safe. It’s not been safe. All my social media’s been hacked, all my personal information has been dragged through.”
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Sen Dianne Feinstein, Who Defended Christine Blasey Ford, Calls Tara Reade’s Accusation Against Joe Biden ‘Ridiculous’ https://t.co/9Z2iVdxX5c
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) May 8, 2020
Reade: ‘His campaign is taking this position that they want all women to be able to speak safely. I have not experienced that’
“Every person who maybe has a gripe against me, an ex-boyfriend or an ex-landlord or whatever it is, has been able to have a platform, rather than me, talking about things that have nothing to do with 1993,” Reade continued. “Even the whole thing about being called a Russian agent, that in particular. That incites people. I got a death threat from that because they thought I was being a traitor to America.”
“These are serious things,” she added. “And his campaign is taking this position that they want all women to be able to speak safely. I have not experienced that.”