Asked Thursday about the apparent double standard from Democrats in their response to the increasingly credible sexual assault allegations against Joe Biden versus their almost uniform condemnation of Brett Kavanaugh, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D) said she doesn’t need “a lecture” on the “believe all women” issue and attempted to “remove all doubt in anyone’s mind” about the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee.
Pelosi was asked about the growing controversy surrounding the accusation from Biden’s former Senate staffer Tara Reade that he forced himself on her and penetrated her with his fingers in a Senate building in 1993 during a press conference on Thursday.
“How do Democrats square with the idea that they’re … standing by Biden, but they’re using a comparatively different standard … when they demanded an investigation on Justice Kavanaugh?” a reporter asked the speaker, citing the “very similar” allegations against the two men.
Before the reporter could finish the question, however, Pelosi responded sharply, “I respect your question — I don’t need a lecture or a speech.”
“Here’s the thing,” the Democratic leader continued, with a long pause. “I have complete respect for the whole Me Too movement. I have four daughters and one son. And there’s a lot of excitement around the idea that women will be heard and will be listened to.”
“There’s also due process,” Pelosi emphasized.
“And, uh, the fact that Joe Biden is Joe Biden …,” she continued. “There’s been statements from his campaign — or, not his campaign, but his former employees who ran his offices, and the rest, that there was never any record of this. There was never any record. And that nobody ever came forward and nobody … ever came forward to say something about it — apart from the principle involved.”
Of course there was “never any record” of the allegations against Kavanaugh about incidents supposedly dating back decades and for which an extensive Senate Judiciary Committee investigation found zero corroborating evidence, but Democrats declared during his confirmation hearing that they “believed” his accuser and many of them continue to claim Kavanaugh is guilty of the unsubstantiated claims.
Having gotten through her attempt to dismiss the allegation, Pelosi shifted to a more positive tone and delivered a more Democrat-favorable message.
“I am so proud,” she began. “The proudest day for me this week was to support Joe Biden for President of the United States. He’s a person of great integrity, of great concern for the American people. He authored the Violence Against Women Act — when he was … the chair of the Judiciary Committee in the ’90s. He has been an advocate for funding it all along since then. And I … believe that he will be a great President of the United States. He is the personification of hope and optimism and authenticity for our country. A person of great values.”
“So I want to remove all doubt in anyone’s mind,” she concluded. “Have great comfort level with the situation, as I see it, with all due respect in the world for any who comes forward, with all the highest regard for Joe Biden. That’s what I have to say about that.”
WATCH:
"I don't need a lecture" Nancy Pelosi tells female reporter
She "respects" the question just as much as she "respects all women who come forward." Just as long as they don't accuse a Democratpic.twitter.com/rcz3HBuAcU
— Liz Harrington (@realLizUSA) April 30, 2020
According to a recent reports, pressure is mounting among Democrats for Biden to finally confront Reade’s allegation, particularly in light of mounting evidence adding to her claim’s credibility. The situation is also making life more difficult for Biden’s potential vice presidential picks, many of whom, as Politico puts it, had “markedly different” responses to the entirely uncorroborated allegations against Kavanaugh during his confirmation hearings. As The Daily Wire noted Wednesday, the tide has begun to turn within the mainstream media on the reporting of Reade’s allegation.
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