It appears the hate-Trump leftist media might begin asking Democrat presidential contender Joe Biden some tough questions about Tara Reade’s sex assault allegation after all.
Of course, they’ve reported Biden’s denial posted to Medium.com.
But Mika Brzezinski, co-host of Morning Joe with Joe Scarborough, grilled Biden about Reade’s claims for almost 20 minutes this morning.
Biden inadvertently suggested that Christine Blasey Ford’s allegations against U.S. Supreme Court Justice were unproven and not to be believed.
Reade’s Story
Reade’s story, which she told to leftist podcaster Katie Halper, went viral a month ago.
In 1993, Reade claimed, a superior in the office ordered her to deliver a gym bag to Biden somewhere on Capitol Hill. Reade doesn’t remember where she delivered it, but she does remember that when she handed the bag to him, he pinned her against a wall and assaulted her.
After the alleged assault, Reade’s mother, Jeneatte Altimus, discussed her daughter’s trouble with Biden on live television with CNN’s Larry King, albeit without using Biden’s name. And early this week, two women said Reade told them about the assault after it happened.
The Biden Information Ministry offered boilerplate denials, but Biden refused to talk. And despite dozens of interviews from his basement, not a single reporter asked Biden about it.
But Biden’s dispensation from the usual media inquiries ended this morning, at least temporarily.
Brzezsinski asked Biden to “go on the record with the American people” and answer this question: “Did you assault Tara Reade?
“No,” he said. “It is not true. I’m saying unequivocally, it never, never happened. And it didn’t. It never happened.
As well, Biden said, “I don’t remember any type of complaint she may have made. It was 27 years ago. … Nor does anyone else that I’m aware of. The fact is, that I don’t remember. I don’t remember any complaint ever having been made.”
Brzezinksi suggested that Biden release any such complaints, to which Biden replied he was “prepared to do that,” although “to the best of my knowledge, there’s been no complaints made against me in terms of my Senate career.”
“Look, this is an open book,” Biden continued. “There’s nothing for me to hide. Nothing at all.”
There’s Biden, Then There’s Kavanaugh
But then Brzezsinki threw Biden something of a hardball. She asked about his comments during Kavanaugh’s confirmation hearings in 2018, when Biden said women must be presumed to be telling the truth if they level allegations.
Brzezinksi: You were unequivocal … back in 2018 during the Kavanaugh controversy and hearings. You said that women should be believed. … She’s gonna be going on national television on Sunday. Tara Reade is coming forward in the glaring lights. To use your words, should we not start off with the presumption that the essence of what she’s talking about is real? She says you sexually assaulted her.
Biden: Look, from the very beginning, I’ve said believing women means taking the woman’s claims seriously when she steps forward and then vet it. Look into it. That’s true in this case as well. Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make. And I’ll always uphold that principle. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. And in this case, the truth is, the claims are false.
****
Brzezinski: Is the essence of what [Reade] is saying real. Why do you think she is doing this?
Biden: I’m going to question her motive. I’m not going to get into that at all. I don’t why she’s saying this. I don’t know why after 27 years all the sudden this gets raised. I don’t understand it. But I’m not going to go in and question her motive. I’m not going to attack her. She has a right to say whatever she wants to say. But I have a right to say look at the facts. Check it out. Find out whether what she says or asserted is true. … [Two majors newspaper found that] this was not in the atmosphere in my office at all. No one has ever said anything like this.
Then Brzezinski lowered the boom. “Why is it real for Dr. Ford but not for Tara Reade?” Brzezinski asked.
Biden was about to say the “facts are different,” but then stopped and said that any charge “should be investigated, and if there’s anything that is consistent with what’s being said, and she makes the case, and the case is made, then it should be believed. But ultimately the truth matters.”
Then Brzezinski quoted top Democrat women who believed Ford’s claims but do not Reade’s.
Brzezinksi: Are women to be believed unless it pertains to you?
Biden: Look, women are to be believed, given the benefit of the doubt if they come forward and say something that they said happened to them, they should start off with the presumption that they are telling the truth. Then you have to look at the circumstances and the facts. And the facts in this case do not exist. They never happened. And there’s so many inconsistencies in this case…. I assure, you it did not happen. Period.
Brzezinski: But why is it different now? Do you regret what you said during the Kavanaugh hearings?
Biden: What I said during the Kavanaugh hearings was she had a right to be heard. And the fact that she came forward, the presumption would be, she’s telling the truth unless it’s proved she wasn’t telling the truth … unless it’s clear from the facts surrounding it, it’s not the truth.
That, of course, was true of Ford’s claims. The facts did not support her claims, and the prosecutor who investigated them found that her witnesses “refuted” or “failed to corroborate her claims.”
Photo of Joe Biden: AP Images
R. Cort Kirkwood is a longtime contributor to The New American and a former newspaper editor.
