House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said Thursday she’s “satisfied” with former Vice President Joe Biden’s lack of response to the Tara Reade allegations of a 1993 sexual assault.
“Well I have great sympathy for any women who brings forth an allegation. I’m a big strong supporter of the Me Too Movement. I think it’s been a great contribution to our country,” Pelosi said. “I do support Joe Biden. I’m satisfied with how he responded. I know him, I was proud to endorse him on Monday… So I’m satisfied with that.”
CNN’s Alisyn Camerota reminded Pelosi that Biden however, hasn’t even addressed the accusations other than denying them through his campaign.
“To be clear, he hasn’t addressed it,” Camerota said.
“It’s a matter that he has to deal with, but I am impressed by the people who worked for him at the time who said they never heard one iota of information about this,” Pelosi said. “But we have an important election at hand.”
Pretty incredible: Pelosi says she is "satisfied" with how Biden has responded to Reade's allegations.
Camerota reminds Pelosi that Biden has not actually responded himself & asks if he should. Pelosi dodges, says, "You know, it is a matter that he has to deal with." pic.twitter.com/P4Ns678AhY
— Mary Margaret Olohan (@MaryMargOlohan) April 30, 2020
Meanwhile in 2018, Pelosi characterized the Supreme Court confirmation of Brett Kavanaugh as “a profoundly heartbreaking day for women, girls, and families” after Kavanaugh was charged with a 30-year-old rape allegation from Christine Blasey Ford, who could never even offer proof that the two had ever met, let alone provide a single witness to corroborate her claims.
“Courageous women risked their safety and well-being to speak truth about this nomination,” Pelosi said on the day of Kavanaugh’s winning vote in the Senate. “Tens of thousands more joined them to share their own harrowing stories of sexual assault, at great personal risk. Yet, Senate Republicans chose to send a clear message to all women: do not speak out, and if you do – do not expect to be heard, believed or respected.”
Pelosi’s words are ringing particularly true for former Biden Senate staffer Tara Reade who so far has offered a consistent story of an alleged 1993 assault from the former Delaware senator, and which has been corroborated by multiple witnesses. Reade’s brother, two close friends, and a 1993 tape of CNN’s “Larry King Live” matching Reade’s description of events have all offered a treasure trove of evidence making Reade’s allegations far more credible than any of the low bar accusations launched at Kavanaugh to derail the nomination and in turn, destroy the man himself.
Federalist Culture Editor Emily Jashinsky explains however, that important gaps in Reade’s story remain to be addressed even as her story up to this point has been consistent. Other than the Biden campaign denying Reade’s claims, several Biden Senate staff report having no knowledge of any complaint formally filed by Reade after the alleged incident which she says led to her firing. More importantly, Reade can’t cite the date and location that the apparent assault took place, only that it occurred in a congressional hallway. Still, Reade’s story has yet to be contradicted with new evidence, and what we know today brings them more credibility than Ford’s ever had throughout the entire Kavanaugh saga that Democrats and the media perpetuated to thwart the president’s second pick for the high court.
While Democrats fall silent on the allegations, hallmark organizations in the Me Too movement have also turned their backs on Reade, and the legacy media that propped up unsubstantiated charges against Kavanaugh have come up short in offering Reade even a fraction of the coverage afforded to the Supreme Court Justice. The media still hasn’t even pressed Biden directly once on the issue after five weeks, 19 interviews and 142 questions since Reade came forward last month, according to an analysis by the Washington Free Beacon. Federalist Senior Editor Mollie Hemingway also points out that it took CNN, which published more than 700 articles on Ford, nearly an entire month to pass until it gave Reade a single mention.