Biden says Reade sexual assault claim 'never happened' during MSNBC appearance
Joe Biden defends himself for the first time on TV after releasing a statement denying the Tara Reade sexual assault allegation; Geraldo Rivera reacts.
Presumptive Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden on Friday denied allegations of sexual assault leveled against him by former Senate staffer Tara Reade after not being asked during at least 15 public appearances since the accusation was levied on March 25.
Biden denied the claims in a lengthy post on Medium and then sat down with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski, an outspoken liberal. CNN’s Dana Bash said Biden gave “a home team interview” and urged him to allow other journalists to ask questions.
BIDEN DENIES SEXUAL ASSAULT ALLEGATION, IN HIS FIRST COMMENTS ON TARA READE'S CLAIMS
But Biden had already been interviewed or featured in town hall events at least 15 times since Reade detailed her claims on journalist Katie Halper’s podcast back on March 25 -- including three appearances on Bash's own network -- where nobody bothered to ask the former vice president about it.
Biden made the following public appearances in between Reade’s claims becoming public and Friday’s denial, and he was never asked about the alleged incident:
- March 26: Jimmy Kimmel’s “Quarantine Minilogue”
- March 27: CNN Town Hall
- March 29: Interview on NBC's “Meet the Press”
- March 30: Interview on MSNBC with Yasmine Vossoughian
- March 31: Interview on CNN with Brooke Baldwin
- March 31: Interview on MSNBC with Brian Williams
- April 5: Interview on ABC’s “This Week”
- April 7: Interview with NBC’s “Today” co-host Craig Melvin
- April 11: Interview on MSNBC with Nicolle Wallace
- April 16: Interview on MSNBC's “Morning Joe”
- April 16: Interview on CNN with Anderson Cooper
- April 21: CBS’s “Late Late Show with James Cordon”
- April 27: Interview with CBS’ Miami affiliate
- April 28: Virtual town hall with Hillary Clinton
- April 30: Instagram conversation with soccer star Megan Rapinoe
UNANSWERED QUESTIONS? BIDEN'S RESPONSE TO TARA READE ACCUSATIONS LEAVES MANY WANTING MORE ANSWERS
Earlier this week, Cornell Law School professor and media critic William A. Jacobson told Fox News that the mainstream media was slow to cover the story.
"Mainstream media has been dragged kicking and screaming to this story by conservative media. Now the story is unavoidable," Jacobson said. “Biden no longer can hide.”
Biden finally spoke out following new developments, including the conservative Media Research Center unearthing a 1993 clip of CNN’s “Larry King Live” on Friday, which pushed the story into the national conversation and forcing liberal outlets to finally acknowledge the story it had ignored for roughly a month.
The tape featured a woman calling into the CNN show to ask for advice about her daughter’s issue with a “prominent senator,” who Reade later told Fox News was her late mother. A few days later, Business Insider published a story in which Reade’s former neighbor heard about the allegations years ago.
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Brzezinski was praised for going harder on Biden than most expected, but she did not ask about the CNN clip or Business Insider report.
“Hopefully with others will have a chance to also ask questions,” CNN’s Bash said while ignoring that her colleagues, and many others, have already passed on the opportunity.