Joe Biden is set to speak up on Friday about a former aide’s allegations that he sexually assaulted her in the 1990s. This was made known by the broadcaster set to interview the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Biden’s morning appearance on MSNBC comes as he faces mounting pressure, including from President Donald Trump, to address the accusations. However and as top Democratic stalwarts sprung to the party flagbearer’s defence.
“Tomorrow in a @Morning_Joe exclusive, former Vice President @JoeBiden (will) respond for the first time to the recent allegation of sexual assault,” the cable television channel’s public relations team made this known Thursday on Twitter.
Biden’s campaign management has however rebuffed the claim that he assaulted a then 29-year-old staff assistant who worked in his US Senate office.
But the 77-year-old White House aspirant is yet to respond personally to the accusation by Tara Reade, now 56.
Trump, on the other hand has faced more than a dozen allegations of sexual harassment and assault before he was elected president. He mentioned that he knew little about the claims against Biden, even though his re-election team and Republican campaign operations aggressively push the controversy.
“I think that he should respond,” Trump told reporters at the White House.
“It could be false accusations,” he added. “I know all about false accusations, I have been falsely charged numerous times.”
According to the accuser, Reade – Biden assaulted her in 1993 in a hallway on Capitol Hill.
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Reade, in a late March interview on the Katie Halper Show podcast said “He went down my skirt but then up inside it and he penetrated me with his fingers,”.
Prior to this Reade’s allegation, other women have accused Biden of touching or embracing them inappropriately, and Reade’s initial claims were similar — and less severe than her most recent allegations.
The New York Times reported it interviewed Reade on multiple occasions, along with her friends and others who worked for Biden in the 1990s.
The paper mentioned that it discovered no pattern of inappropriate behaviour.