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Former Vice President Joe Biden doubled down on his denial of the former Senate staffer Tara Reade's sexual-assault allegation in his second TV interview with MSNBC.
"It's not true," Biden told MSNBC's Al Sharpton in a pre-taped interview that aired Saturday on "Politics Nation."
"I'm saying unequivocally, it never happened. Period," Biden said during the interview, which was taped Friday evening.
Biden largely repeated his denial from the Friday morning interview with MSNBC's "Morning Joe" where host Mika Brzezinski grilled him about the assault allegation and whether Biden will open up his records to examine for potential evidence.
Biden on Friday called for a search of the National Archives for any records that might pertain to allegations made against him by Reade, a former Senate aide -- but he refused to approve a similar search of his senatorial papers, which are currently stored at the University of Delaware and sealed from the public, and will be until Biden is out of public life for two years. Biden said those records would not have personnel files.
But with some confusion over where the personnel records would be kept, Biden then called on the Secretary of the Senate to conduct a search.
The Trump campaign panned Biden's inaugural interview Friday morning as digging himself into a deeper hole. When asked by Sharpton whether he wanted to respond to the Trump campaign's critique, Biden passed.
"I don’t want to respond to them," Biden said.
But he took the opportunity to again deny the evolving story from Reade, who claims Biden pinned her against a wall in 1993, put his hand under her skirt and penetrated her with his fingers without her consent.
MAINSTREAM DEMS PUSH TO MOVE PAST BIDEN ALLEGATION IN WAKE OF DENIAL
"Believing in women means taking a woman's claim seriously when she steps forward, and then vetting it, looking into it," Biden said in the interview that was taped Friday evening. "That's true in this case, as well. Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate the claims like these."
"I'd always uphold those principles. But in the end, in every case, the truth is what matters. In this case, the truth is these claims are false," he said.
NEW YORK TIMES CALLS FOR DNC INVESTIGATION INTO BIDEN SEXUAL-ASSAULT CLAIMS
Reade, a supporter of Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said last year to a local newspaper that Biden put his hands on her shoulders and rubbed his fingers up and down her neck.
Her story was largely buried in the context of the stories of seven other women who came forward to say Biden touched or kissed them in ways that were unwanted. Biden responded at the time saying he'd be more respectful of people's personal space.
Now, this year, Reade's account dramatically escalated and she claimed Biden assaulted her. She says she was fired from Biden’s office after filing a complaint with the Senate.
Reade told The New York Times that she reported the incident to three Biden senate staffers and filed a written complaint with a Senate personnel office at the time. The three staffers denied ever hearing concerns from Reade. Neither Reade nor the Senate could produce a copy of any record of a formal complaint against Biden.
The Associated Press reported Saturday that Reade initially told them last year that she “chickened out” after going to the Senate personnel office seeking to file a complaint. In a new interview, she says she filed a limited report with a congressional personnel office that did not explicitly accuse Biden of sexual assault or harassment.
AP EXCLUSIVE: HARASSMENT, ASSAULT ABSENT IN BIDEN COMPLAINT
But over the course of the new reporting, stemming from Reade coming forward in late March, several new developments happened that gave oxygen to Reade's account.
A "Larry King Live" clip from 1993 was unearthed that purportedly featured Reade's mother calling in to the show anonymously and alluding to her daughter's "problems" with a "prominent senator."
On Monday, two more people -- a former neighbor and a former colleague of Reade's -- said they remembered conversations they had with her back in the 1990s. One remembered her account of the alleged assault, and another remembered her mentioning harassment, but not assault.
The AP has also spoken to two additional people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to protect their families’ privacy, who said Reade had told them about aspects of her allegations against Biden years ago.
Fox News' Tyler Olson and the Associated Press contributed to this report.
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