EXCLUSIVE: ‘Kamala is a hypocrite – she saw an opportunity to seize a position of power and took it.’ Biden accuser Tara Reade claims Harris ‘turned a blind eye to sex assault victims’ after saying she ‘believed’ women who came forward against former VP
- Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade has told DailyMail.com that Kamala Harris abandoned her principles and her vow to protect sexual assault survivors in order to become the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee
- Reade claims when she was a senate aide in 1993, Biden pinned her against a wall, reached under her skirt and assaulted her
- Biden has vehemently denied her claims, and current and former Biden staffers say they cannot recall such an incident
- Prior to Reade making her accusation against Biden, a handful of other women had accused Biden of inappropriate touching and kissing
- Harris said in April 2019 when she was still running for President: ‘I believe them, and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it’
- In Harris’ Democratic VP nominee acceptance speech, she declared: ‘I’ve fought for children and survivors of sexual assault….I know a predator when I see one’
- Reade said of Harris: ‘She’s a hypocrite. She saw an opportunity to seize a position of power and she took it, turning a blind eye to sexual assault victims’
- Reade said she took her complaint to Harris’ presidential campaign when it was still active, but never received a response
- She believes if her perpetrator was a Republican, Harris would be one of her biggest supporters, much like she was of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford
- Reade said every time she thinks of Harris believing Ford but not supporting her, ‘disgusts and hurts me’
Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade has told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that Kamala Harris 
abandoned her principles and her vow to protect sexual assault survivors in order to become the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee.
Reade said: ‘I’m disappointed with Kamala with her being the Vice Presidential nominee. It’s the height of hypocrisy for her to accept the VP nominee position.
‘She’s a hypocrite. She saw an opportunity to seize a position of power and she took it, turning a blind eye to sexual assault victims.’
In Harris’ Democratic VP nominee acceptance speech on Wednesday night, she declared: ‘I’ve fought for children and survivors of sexual assault….I know a predator when I see one.’
Reade said Harris’ remarks ‘sickened’ her, adding: ‘She obviously doesn’t know how to spot a predator, she is enabling one by the name of Joe Biden.’
The 56-year-old came forward this March to claim that when she was a Senate aide for Biden in 1993, he pinned her against a wall, reached under her skirt and sexually assaulted her. Biden has vehemently denied her claims.
Reade said because Harris was a prosecutor and California’s Attorney General who worked with sexual assault victims, she should know how difficult it is for victims to come forward and speak.
But Reade said Harris’ silence on Biden makes her complicit and to add extra pain, ‘she’s a woman.’
Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade has told DailyMail.com in an exclusive interview that Kamala Harris abandoned her principles and her vow to protect sexual assault survivors in order to become the Democratic Vice Presidential nominee
In Harris’ Democratic VP nominee acceptance speech on Wednesday night, she declared: ‘I’ve fought for children and survivors of sexual assault….I know a predator when I see one.’ Reade said Harris’ remarks ‘sickened’ her, adding: ‘She obviously doesn’t know how to spot a predator, she is enabling one by the name of Joe Biden’
Reade came forward in late March to claim that when she was a senate aide in 1993, Biden pinned her against a wall, reached under her skirt and assaulted her. Biden has vehemently denied her claims, and current and former Biden staffers say they cannot recall such an incident
Reade recounted her story to DailyMail.com, saying she was told to deliver a package to Biden at the Russell Senate building in 1993, where he pinned her against a wall in a hallway and penetrated her with his fingers, against her will, she claims.
‘He had his hands underneath my clothes,’ Reade said. Then she said Biden asked if she wanted to ‘go somewhere else’ and allegedly said to her ‘I want to f*** you’.
She said when Biden realized she wasn’t reciprocating he begged: ‘C’mon man, I heard you like me.’
Then Reade said he became angry and said while pointing his finger at her, ‘you’re nothing to me.’
Reade said she reached out to Harris’ office on two occasions regarding her sexual assault in 2018 via a form email on her Senate webpage. Both times she said she heard nothing back from Harris’ office.
Reade believes that if her perpetrator was a Republican instead of Democrat, Harris would be one of her biggest supporters, much like she was of Dr. Christine Blasey Ford who accused then Supreme Court Republican Nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexually assaulting her while in high school.
Harris praised Ford during the hearing in September 2018, calling her a ‘true patriot’ and telling her: ‘I want to thank you for your courage and I want to tell you I believe you.’
Reade said every time she thinks of Harris believing Ford but not supporting her, it ‘disgusts and hurts me.’
‘Kamala will speak out on sexual assault if it politically suits her, for Christine it suited her, for me it doesn’t.’
Reade recounted her story to DailyMail.com, saying she was told to deliver a package to Biden at the Russell Senate building in 1993, where he pinned her against a wall in a hallway and penetrated her with his fingers, against her will, she claims. Pictured: Reade out with friends in Washington, in 1992 or 1993, during the time she worked for Biden
‘He had his hands underneath my clothes,’ Reade said. Then she said Biden asked if she wanted to ‘go somewhere else’ and allegedly said to her ‘I want to f**k you’. She said when Biden realized she wasn’t reciprocating he begged: ‘C’mon man, I heard you like me.’ Then Reade said he became angry and said while pointing his finger at her, ‘you’re nothing to me’. Pictured: Reade around the time she claims she was assaulted by Biden
Reade said she reached out to Harris’ office on two occasions regarding her sexual assault in 2018 via a form email on her senate webpage. Both times she said she heard nothing back from Harris’ office. Pictured: Reade around the time she claims she was assaulted by Biden Tara Reade details the day of her alleged assault by Joe Biden
Prior to Reade making her accusation against Biden, a handful of other women had accused Biden of inappropriate touching and kissing.
Harris said in April 2019, when she was still running for President: ‘I believe them, and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it’
But later when Harris was asked specifically about Reade’s allegations against Biden, she told the San Francisco Chronicle this April: ‘This woman has a right to tell her story, and I believe that, and I believe Joe Biden believes that too.
‘I’ve spent my whole career…fighting to give women a voice, and this brings up, I think, a bigger structural issue, frankly, which is that women must be able to speak without fear of retaliation…
‘On the issue of Joe, I can only speak to the Joe Biden I know. He’s been a life-long fighter in terms of stopping violence against women. He has been the leader, I think really most people would agree, in the United States Senate on VAWA, the Violence Against Women Act.’
Reade scoffed at Harris’ response, saying: ‘Kamala abandoned me and others all in the name of politics to get into power.’
She added: ‘I lost everything, my home, job, career, character, everything, I don’t even have a savings or checking account, I paid a heavy price by coming forward. ‘
After Reade came forward, questions arose of her life story. She had claimed to be a graduate of Antioch College but the college now says she was not.
She made that claim under oath repeatedly during a decade of acting as an exert witness on domestic violence in California courts.
She was met with scrutiny over a winding trail of extreme debt, questionable business practices and former friends who said she was ‘deceitful and manipulative’.
Reade said Harris’ most ardent online supporters, known as #KHive, ruthlessly harassed her online and set out to smear her name.
Prior to Reade making her accusation against Biden, a handful of other women had accused Biden of inappropriate touching and kissing. Addressing those claims, Harris told reporters in April 2019 when she was still running for President: ‘I believe them, and I respect them being able to tell their story and having the courage to do it’
Harris praised Ford during the hearing in September 2018, calling her a ‘true patriot’ and telling her: ‘I want to thank you for your courage and I want to tell you I believe you.’ Reade said every time she thinks of Harris believing Ford but not supporting her, ‘disgusts and hurts me.’ Pictured: Dr Christine Blasey Ford (left) and Judge Brett Kavanaugh (right)Kamala Harris accepts Democratic nomination for
She added: ‘In public Harris said I had the right to tell my story, but behind the scenes her supporters were making my life a living hell. I’ve been tarred and feathered and dragged through the mud.’
Reade said if she had the chance to speak with Harris she’d ask why she didn’t get in contact with her when she reached out with her accusations against Biden, questioning: ‘Before all the press and after I came forward? Why did you allow your campaign trolls and surrogate to harass me and smear my life?’
And Reade would tell Biden: ‘Stop running on the platform of character. I know who he is, I was there, and he was there.
‘I don’t know in his current mental state if he fully remembers sexually assaulting me, I know I do.’
Reade also questions his current mental abilities, saying: ‘He seems befuddled at times when I’ve seen him on TV. Right now Joe seems grandfatherly.’
The lifelong Democrat said she’s not going to be voting in the upcoming national election in November, because ‘it’s a nasty time.’
Joe Biden still facing growing scrutiny over sexual assault allegations made by a former Senate staffer.
The big picture: Business Insider published two on-the record corroborations of parts of allegations by Tara Reade, who claims Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993. The former vice president then appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” to publicly deny the allegations for the first time.
Timeline
April 3, 2019: Reade joined several women in accusing Biden of inappropriate touching as a senator in 1993. She told The Union, a local newspaper in California, that on numerous occasions Biden put his hands on her neck and shoulders in ways that made her uncomfortable.
- Reade told The Union her responsibilities in Biden’s office were reduced after she refused to serve drinks at an event. She said she left after nine months, feeling she was pushed out and that Biden’s staff was protecting him.
- She told The Union she didn’t feel Biden’s actions were sexualization, instead comparing her experience to being treated like a lamp: “It’s pretty. Set it over there,” she said. “Then when it’s too bright, you throw it away.”
- Reade also tried unsuccessfully to get #MeToo-related Time’s Up to help fund her case, per The Intercept.
March 25, 2020: Reade told journalist Katie Halper on a podcast that in 1993, Biden pinned her against a wall in a Senate building, reached under her clothes and penetrated her with his fingers while kissing her.
- After pulling away, Reade recalled Biden telling her that he thought she liked him. Reade claims that Biden looked at her and said: “You’re nothing to me” — words that she says affected her “almost more than the assault” because of how much respect she then had for him.
- Reade said when Biden saw that she looked “shocked,” he told her: “You’re OK, you’re fine.”
- Reade told Halper that she told family and a friend about the incident at the time.
April 9: Reade filed a police report claiming she was the victim of a sexual assault in 1993. She tweeted that she did so solely for “safety reasons,” acknowledging that the statute of limitations had run out on her complaint.
April 12-13: The New York Times, Washington Post and AP all published investigations into Reade’s allegations.
- The Times interviewed Reade, lawyers she spoke to, nearly two dozen people who worked with Biden in the early 90s, and seven women who made inappropriate touching allegations against Biden. None corroborated the details of Reade’s allegation, and the Times wrote that it “found no pattern of sexual misconduct” by Biden.
- The Post interviewed Reade, more than a half-dozen former Biden staffers, and people Reade says she told about the assault soon after it happened. A friend who requested anonymity corroborated Reade’s account of their conversation. Reade’s brother initially said she told him there was an incident where Biden was “inappropriate,” but not the alleged assault. He later followed up and told the Post he recalled Reade telling him Biden had cornered her and reached under her clothes.
- The AP interviewed Reade, five Biden staffers who worked with him at the time, and two friends Reade says she told about the incident before going public. One friend who requested anonymity said Reade told them about the assault at the time. The other friend said Reade told her about Biden’s alleged harassment in 2007 or 2008 — but made no mention of the alleged assault.
April 24: The Intercept reported that Reade’s mother called into CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Aug. 11, 1993, and said her daughter had just left her job working for a “prominent senator” in Washington, where she “could not get through with her problems at all.”
- Reade’s mother said “the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him.”
April 27: Two sources went on the record to Business Insider to corroborate certain details of Reade’s allegation.
- Lynda LaCasse, who was Reade’s neighbor in the mid-1990s, said she told her in 1995 or 1996 that she had been assaulted by Biden: “I remember her saying, here was this person that she was working for and she idolized him,” LaCasse said. “And he kind of put her up against a wall. And he put his hand up her skirt and he put his fingers inside her.”
- Lorraine Sanchez, who worked with Reade for a California state senator, said Reade told her in the mid-90s that “she had been sexually harassed by her former boss while she was in D.C., and as a result of her voicing her concerns to her supervisors, she was let go, fired.” Sanchez said she does not remember if Reade gave details about the harassment she allegedly faced.
April 30: Reade told Fox News she filed a complaint to the Senate personnel office almost 30 years ago. Reade said the complaint would prove that she went to top Biden aides to discuss her problems with the then-senator, and that they have since lied about their recollections of those conversations.
May 1: Biden personally addressed the allegations for the first time on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” saying “They aren’t true. This never happened.”
- “I’m not going to question her motive. I’m not going to get into that at all. I don’t know why she’s saying this. I don’t know why all of a sudden after 27 years this gets raised. I don’t understand it,” he added.
- Biden then sent a letter to the Secretary of the Senate asking for a search of his records to locate Reade’s alleged 1993 complaint about Biden.
May 2: Reade told the AP that she filed a “limited” report on Biden with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse him of sexual harassment or assault.
May 4: The Secretary of the Senate said it cannot comply with Biden’s request to release documents pertaining to Reade’s alleged 1993 complaint. The office said it “has no discretion to disclose” the information because of laws pertaining to confidentiality.
For the record: The Biden campaign has strongly denied all of Reade’s allegations in statements provided to media organizations:
- Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s deputy campaign manager and communications director: “Vice President Biden has dedicated his public life to changing the culture and the laws around violence against women. He authored and fought for the passage and reauthorization of the landmark Violence Against Women Act. He firmly believes that women have a right to be heard – and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: it is untrue. This absolutely did not happen.”
- Marianne Baker, Biden’s executive assistant from 1982–2000: “In all my years working for Senator Biden, I never once witnessed, or heard of, or received, any reports of inappropriate conduct. … I have absolutely no knowledge or memory of Ms. Reade’s accounting of events, which would have left a searing impression on me as a woman professional, and as a manager.”
May 7: Asked whether Biden should drop out in an excerpt of an interview with Megyn Kelly, Reade said: “I wish he would,” adding it’s “a little late” for an apology.
- “You and I were there, Joe Biden. Please step forward and be held accountable. You should not be running on character for the president of the United States,” Reade said.
May 22: Lawyer Douglas Wigdor, whose firm has represented plaintiffs in high-profile discrimination cases, announced that he was no longer representing Reade.
- He did not provide a reason behind his firm’s decision, but did say that the move was “by no means a reflection” on the veracity of her allegations.