May 2, 2020 - Politics & Policy

AP: Tara Reade says the written complaint against Biden did not mention sexual assault

Orion Rummler

In this image, Biden stands at a podium while talking — Joe Biden at the 11th Democratic debate on March 15. Photo: Mandel Ngan/AFP via Getty Images

Tara Reade, a former Senate staffer who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her in 1993, told AP in an exclusive interview that she filed a "limited" report on Biden with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual harassment or assault.

Driving the news: Biden sent a letter to the Secretary of the Senate on Friday asking for a search of his records to try to locate a complaint that Reade allegedly made in 1993 about Biden.

Biden addressed the allegations for the first time on Friday, saying in an MSNBC interview and in a statement: "They aren’t true. This never happened."
Reade has previously said she filed a written complaint with a "Senate personnel office" in 1993.

What she's saying: “I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable,” Reade told the AP on Friday. “I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”

Reade told the AP: “The main word I used — and I know I didn’t use sexual harassment — I used ‘uncomfortable.’ And I remember ‘retaliation.’”

Flashback: The Washington Post's editorial board this week called on Biden to release the old Senate records stored at the University of Delaware.

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AP: Tara Reade says the written complaint against Biden did not mention sexual assault

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