Biden accuser Tara Reade originally said in 2019 that her story was not about sexual misconduct.
Reade accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her while she worked as a Senate staffer in the early 1990s. Biden has denied the allegations, noting that Reade’s story has changed since she first spoke about it in 2019.
While Biden’s comment about Reade’s story changing is true, it does not necessarily mean she is lying. When Reade spoke about the story in 2019, however, she wrote and told reporters that it was “not a story about sexual misconduct.”
Reade wrote an op-ed for The Union in 2019 about her allegation where she noted it was not about sexual misconduct. She also told The Union that year that “she didn’t consider the acts toward her sexualization.”
“We are sexual beings and we are all trying to figure out how to express this aspect of ourselves at work and home lives, it is a journey our society is on right now,” Reade wrote according to her 2019 op-ed. (RELATED: ‘Tara Reade Deserves To Be Heard’: WaPo Editorial Board Calls On Biden To Directly Address Sexual Assault Allegation)
“But this is not a story about sexual misconduct; it is a story about abuse of power. It is a story about when a member of Congress allows staff to threaten or belittle or bully on their behalf unchecked to maintain power rather than modify the behavior.”
Reade first alleged that Biden “touched her several times making her feel uncomfortable,” The Union reported. She said he would touch her neck and shoulders but made no mention of a sexual assault.
Reade’s lawyer told the Daily Caller News Foundation that his client was “not ready to share” the sexual assault story.
“The original interview was about sexual harassment,” lawyer Douglas Wigdor said. “She [Reade] was not ready to share that she had been sexually assaulted. Her colleague that is quoted in the article knew that and that is why she also did not discuss the sexual assault in the first interview.”
U.S. Attorney General Janet Reno (C), turns to answer a question from a reporter as she and Sen. Joseph Biden (L), D-Del, leave the White House after meeting with U.S. President Bill Clinton, 12 March 1993. (J.DAVID AKE/AFP via Getty Images)
Biden’s accuser said nearly a year later that Biden sexually assaulted her. She accused Biden of kissing her, touching her and penetrating her with his fingers without consent.
Vox reporter Laura McGann reiterated Reade’s past statements in an article published May 7. McGann noted that Reade’s comments to her were consistent with those published in The Union.
“Reade told me that she wanted me to think of this story as being about abuse of power, ‘but not sexual misconduct,'” according to McGann. “Her emphasis was on how she was treated in Biden’s office by Senate aides, who she said retaliated against her for complaining about how Biden touched her in meetings. ‘I don’t know if [Biden] knew why I left,’ she said. ‘He barely knew us by name.'”
“She sent me an email that evening with an essay she’d written. Her local paper in California, the Union, published a similar version a few weeks later with a line she’d sent to me, too,” Vox reported, citing Reade’s op-ed comments.
At least six people have seemingly corroborated various details of Reade’s story.