Several months after former Senate staffer Tara Reade accused Joe Biden of sexual assault, the Department of Justice (DOJ) issued a subpoena to Twitter demanding personal information on her accounts, including credit card or bank account numbers.
The subpoena was only recently revealed by the Daily Caller, which obtained emails and documents relating to the incident showing the DOJ asked Twitter to testify in front of a grand jury on December 16, 2020, to provide “all subscriber information” for Reade’s accounts. The information was requested of two accounts belonging to Reade, including @ReadeAlexandra and @TaraMcCabe.
The DOJ requested the following information from the accounts, according to the Caller:
- Subscriber name;
- Address;
- Records of session times and durations, to include attempted/failed/unauthenticated logins;
- Length of service (including start date) and types of service utilized;
- Telephone or instrument number or other subscriber number or identity, including any temporarily assigned network address; and
- Means and source of payment for such service (including any credit card or bank account number)
Reade told the Caller that she didn’t “know why” the DOJ requested the information.
“Other than coming forward about Joe Biden, there would be no reason for them to do that,” she told the outlet.
The grand jury was scheduled for July 9, 2020, but Hayden Schottlaender, a Perkins Coie lawyer representing Twitter, didn’t reach out to Reade until December 8, 2020, to tell her about the subpoena.
Reade told the Caller that Schottlaender spoke to her on the phone that day, telling her Twitter tried to fight the subpoena in court but “then had to file a motion” to let her know it “was happening.” Schottlaender followed up that conversation with an email obtained by the Caller.
“To recap our conversations to date, I represent Twitter and have contacted you to inform you that Twitter received the attached subpoena from the United States Department of Justice, seeking data related to your Twitter account(s). The subpoena issues in a sealed proceeding,” Schottlaender wrote in the email.
“As I mentioned, Twitter intends to comply with this subpoena on December 16, 2020, unless it receives notice from you that a motion to quash or otherwise invalidate this subpoena has been filed. If you do file any such motions, please send a copy directly to me at this email address. If, on the other hand, you have no concerns with Twitter producing the requested data, please similarly let me know,” Schottlaender added.
Earlier in 2020, Reade said she had filed a police report in April 2020 alleging Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993 while he was a senator. Reade reportedly told friends of Biden’s alleged assault that year. Her story has apparently evolved over time, however, from sexual harassment to assault, and her claim that Biden assaulted her in a “side area” somewhere between Biden’s old Senate office and the gym isn’t possible, as no such side area exists in that space.