DNC chair on requests for Biden records: "This is like the Hillary emails"
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Democratic National Committee chair Tom Perez dismissed calls on ABC's "This Week" for Joe Biden to release his Senate records from the University of Delaware amid allegations of sexual assault by former staffer Tara Reade.
The big picture: Perez said he believes the former vice president's denial of the allegations against him, and he repeated Biden's defense that the Delaware records do not contain matters related to personnel. "This is like the Hillary e-mails," Perez said, arguing that the requests will be weaponized for political purposes.
- Biden publicly denied Reade's allegations for the first time last week and asked the Secretary of the Senate to search his records for any documents related to the allegation.
- Reade told AP last week that she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office, but did not explicitly use the terms sexual assault or harassment.
What he's saying: "Joe Biden has been very clear that this did not happen," Perez said. "He was forceful in that, and he's been equally clear that when women come forward with complaints of this nature they should be taken seriously, their complaints should be investigated, they should be treated with dignity. And he's done exactly that."
- "There's been so many investigations of this vice president. The most comprehensive investigation of the vice president was when he was vetted by Barack Obama in 2008. I'm very familiar with vice presidential vetting processes."
- "They look at everything about you. They looked at the entire history of Joe Biden. His entire career. And, I tell you, if Barack Obama had any indication that there was an issue, Barack Obama would not have had him as his vice president."
- "Barack Obama trusted Joe Biden. I trust Joe Biden."
Go deeper ... Biden addresses Tara Reade allegation: "This never happened"
