Former Vice President Joe Biden continued to deny allegations of a 1993 sexual assault from a former Senate staffer Friday, while maintaining he would refuse to allow a search of his Senate records of the accuser Tara Reade’s name.
According to the Washington Post, Biden’s records from his time in the Senate are being held at the University of Delaware where they will be sealed until two years after Biden leaves public life.
Reade told the Daily Caller that she wants the records released since she believes they might contain a copy of the complaint filed over the alleged incident which she says led to her termination on Capitol Hill. Several Biden Senate staffers have denied the existence of any such paper work.
When pressed MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” about unsealing or allowing for a search of the records, the presumptive Democratic nominee explained that his records are open at the National Archives but is vowing to keep documents housed at the University of Delaware under lock and key. Biden claimed any complaint filed by Reade would be found at the Archives rather than in Delaware.
“The National Archives is the only place there would be anything having to do with personnel records,” Biden said.
“Personnel records aside, are you certain there was nothing about Tara Reade in those records and if so why not approve a search of her name in those records?” Mika Brzezinski asked of the files in Delaware.
“There is nothing. They’re not there,” Biden said. “I don’t understand the point you’re trying to make.”
Brzezinski kept pushing.
“You are approving and actually calling for a search of the National Archives records of anything pertaining to Tara Reade. I’m asking why not do the same in the University of Delaware records which have raised questions because they were supposed to be revealed to the public and then they were sealed for a longer period of time?”
Biden continued to claim the records in Delaware contain nothing related to Reade, only sensitive information related to his work as a senator, which Biden says could be taken out of context over the course of the presidential campaign.
When contacted by a Business Insider reporter, the National Archives said they do not hold Biden’s Senate office records as he claims.
Joe Biden said that Tara Reade's complaint could only be at the National Archives, at what was then called the Office of Fair Employment Practices. But, a National Archives spokesperson told me that they do not hold records from that office.
— Nicole Einbinder (@NicoleEinbinder) May 1, 2020
