According to The New York Times — one of the few outlets on the left that has looked closely into the sexual assault allegation against former Vice President Joe Biden — progressive and women’s rights activists have grown increasingly “angered” by the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee’s refusal to directly address his former Senate staffer Tara Reade’s claims, especially in light of new evidence.
In a report published Wednesday, the Times fires a shot across Biden’s bow. “Democratic Frustration Mounts as Biden Remains Silent on Sexual Assault Allegation,” reads the title. “Activists and women’s rights advocates have urged Mr. Biden to address a former aide’s allegation that he sexually assaulted her in 1993,” the subhead explains. “His lack of response has angered them.”
The piece, written by Lisa Lerer and
“Finally, several of the women’s groups prepared a public letter that praised Mr. Biden’s work as an ‘outspoken champion for survivors of sexual violence’ but also pushed him to address the allegation from Tara Reade, a former aide who worked in Mr. Biden’s Senate office in the early 1990s,” Lerer and Ember report.
“According to people involved in the discussions, the group put the letter on hold as it began pressuring Biden advisers to push the candidate to make a statement himself before the end of April, which is Sexual Assault Awareness Month,” write Lerer and Ember. “Along with liberal organizers, they urged him to acknowledge the importance of survivors and the need for systemic change around issues of sexism and assault.”
But two weeks later, that acknowledgment and call for change from Biden still hasn’t happened — even as more evidence backing up parts of Reade’s claims has emerged. The result: the activists are still withholding their letter of support, and their “anger” is mounting.
“As two more women have come forward to corroborate part of Ms. Reade’s allegation, the Biden campaign is facing attacks from the right and increasing pressure from the left to address the issue,” Lerer and Ember explain. The situation has left liberal activists “in a tense standoff with a candidate they want to support but who they say has made little attempt to show leadership on an issue that resonates deeply with their party’s base.”
Shaunna Thomas, a founder of one of the women’s rights groups that has been hoping to be able to endorse Biden, told the Times, “It’s difficult for survivors to see that a woman who has more corroborating sources than most survivors have in similar situations is being tossed aside and actively being weaponized by cynical political actors.”
According to the Times’s sources in Biden’s campaign, his team remains “unconcerned about any significant political blowback from Ms. Reade’s accusation.” Rather than directly addressing it, Biden’s aides and advisers have dismissed the claim as false and, as reported by BuzzFeed News on Tuesday, have issued “talking points” to the candidate’s surrogates to dismiss the credibility of the accusation, even using the Times’ initial report on Reade’s claims as part of those scripted lines. BuzzFeed reports:
“Biden believes that all women have the right to be heard and to have their claims thoroughly reviewed,” the talking points read, according to a copy sent to two Democratic operatives. “In this case, a thorough review by the New York Times has led to the truth: this incident did not happen.”
“Here’s the bottom line,” they read. “Vice President Joe Biden has spent over 40 years in public life: 36 years in the Senate; 7 Senate campaigns, 2 previous presidential runs, two vice presidential campaigns, and 8 years in the White House. There has never been a complaint, allegation, hint or rumor of any impropriety or inappropriate conduct like this regarding him — ever.”
The Times has since pushed back on that characterization of their report, and, as the paper’s sources on the left are making increasingly clear, those Team Biden-penned “talking points” are not going to be enough to sweep the Reade accusation away.
Related: Planned Parenthood, NARAL, Emily’s List Refuse To Comment On Biden Allegations
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