My Two Cents: Tara Reade

I believe the women, which is why this one bothers me.

More than a year ago … a year ago … Tara Reade accused Joe Biden, as other women have, of touching her shoulder and neck in a way that made her uncomfortable, when she worked for him in 1993. That makes sense; Joe admits he’s been known to do that. And then earlier this year, in March, she came out again with the same story, but it got little to no traction, so in April she came out again, though this time the story was different.

This time Reade claimed that in 1993 Joe Biden pushed her up against a wall, put this hand down her skirt and put his fingers in her vagina. But … how is that not the story the first time out? I mean, it feels like the touching of the hair didn’t meet some sort of objective, so she doubled down with fingers penetrating her.

As I said, I believe the women, but this one troubles me, and here’s why:

Although Reade waited 27 years to accuse Biden of sexual assault, that doesn’t bother me so much. I understand that it’s hard to step into the light and go up against a powerful man. And if I believe Christine Blasey Ford—and I do—waiting for many years before speaking up about Brett Kavanaugh, I’d have to believe Reade, except …

How do you tell the story of Biden touching your hair and neck, but forget to mention the penetration with his fingers? And why tell one story first, and then add more graphic details more than a year later?

Reade has an explanation for that. She claims that when she came forward with her allegations in March 2019, she wanted to speak to The Union newspaper in California, but says the reporter’s tone made her feel uncomfortable, so she “shut down” and didn't tell the whole story. She waited another year before finding someone else to tell her story.

That doesn’t ring true.

It also is strange that Reade says she complained about Biden's assault to Marianne Baker, Biden’s executive assistant, as well as to top aides Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman, and yet all three say she made no such complaints. And these three did simply say they didn’t remember a nearly thirty-year-old complaint, they all completely deny ever being told the story by Tara Reade.

Still, Reade insists she told them, and insists she filed a written complaint against Biden with the Senate personnel office, and yet reporters and staff have never found that written complaint. Even Tara Reade doesn’t possess a copy of the complaint, though she has copies of all other relevant paperwork from that time, including a copy of her 1993 Senate employment records.

That strikes me odd.

Even more troubling is that Reade cannot remember the date, the time, or the exact location of the alleged assault, except that it occurred in a “semiprivate” hallway connecting Senate buildings. She expects us to believe a powerful well-known man assaulted her in the halls of Congress and yet she cannot remember. This is troubling because, with her lack of memory on this point, it’s next to impossible for Joe Biden to go through records and prove he could not have committed the assault, because he was somewhere else at the time. 

Also troublesome is that Tara Reade provides two different explanations for why she stopped working for Biden in 1993. She claimed once that she was fired because Biden wanted her to serve drinks at an event and she refused. Reade says she then felt "pushed out” of her job and so she quit.

However, Reade also claimed that after she filed a sexual harassment complaint—and now she says she never used the words ‘sexual harassment’ in that complaint—with the Senate personnel office, she faced retaliation for complaining and was fired by Biden’s chief of staff.

Quit or fired? It cannot be both.

It also cannot be both that Tara Reade was sexually assaulted by Joe Biden in 1993, but as recently as 2017 she would “Like” praise for Biden’s work combating sexual assault, to which she tweeted:

“My old boss speaks truth. Listen.” 

She was praising him for his work in trying to end the very thing she now claims that he did to her.

It doesn’t make sense. What happened?

Bernie Sanders? Not a stretch; in January of 2020, Reade came out in support of Sanders for president, saying Biden was “the blue version of Trump” and that the Democratic National Committee was trying to “shove” Biden “down Democrat voters throats.” 

And then Tara Reade suddenly began contradicting all she said before about Biden, saying her decision to finally come forward was due to “the hypocrisy that Biden is supposed to be the champion of women’s rights.”

Praise him? Accuse him.

Were her allegations against Biden a form of retaliation for Bernie not winning the nomination? For 27 years, Tara Reade did not publicly accuse Joe Biden of sexually assaulting her, but after his string of victories derailed Sanders from his path to the Democratic nomination, Reade went public with her claim.

And these not just her claims; there is an alleged phone call from her mother to a talk show; friends and family who’ve suddenly remembered, and then remembered more, have come forward.

In 1991 an anonymous woman—who Reade now claims was her mother, who is now deceased—called in to CNN's "Larry King Live" show and said:

"I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? My daughter has just left there after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him." 

Her problems there? If we believe Tara Reade, and we believe this woman was her mother, then why talk “problems”? Why not say, anonymously, oddly enough, that your daughter was sexually assaulted by this “prominent senator”?

And then you have Reade’s brother, Collin Moulton, who, in an interview with The Post, says his sister told him Joe Biden inappropriately touched her neck and shoulders. He said not one word about sexual assault until a few days later, when he texted The Post that he suddenly remembered Reade saying Biden put his hand "under her clothes.” 

Again, a man touching your sister’s hair and neck is inappropriate, so why lead with that? If the man forced your sister up against a wall, kissed her, shoved his hand down her skirt and inside her, that would be the story.

Two of Reade’s friend, who requested anonymity, have differing stories, as well. One says Reade told her she was sexually assaulted by Biden, while the other said Reade told her that Biden touched her inappropriately.

Two friends, two different stories.

In addition, in prior interviews, Tara Reade gave an exhaustive list of people she told of the alleged assault, and yet neither one of these women were on that list.

A third friend, Lynda LaCasse, gave an interview to Business Insider, claiming Reade told her of the assault in 1995 or 1996. Insider called LaCasse the “first person to independently corroborate, in detail and on the record, that Reade had told others about her assault allegations contemporaneously.”

That word ‘contemporaneously’ is troubling, because in legalese it generally means ‘existing or occurring in the same period of time,’ but if Reade was sexually assaulted in 1993, telling a friend two or three years later is not contemporaneous at all. 

And one other thing I find disconcerting about Reade’s story. We know that several women claimed that Joe Biden made them uncomfortable with things like a shoulder touch or a hug, but there has never been one hint of sexual assault in all of Joe Biden’s life, except for Tara Reade.

Now, it could be possible that in his entire life Joe Biden committed just one sexual assault, against Reade, but generally speaking men who do these kinds of things don’t do them just once … just look at the twenty-five very similar allegations against the sitting president.

As I said earlier, I believe women, but that doesn’t mean all women are being truthful. It doesn’t mean all women shouldn’t be questioned about inaccuracies in their stories. It doesn’t mean I can’t support the #MeToo movement and question allegations of sexual assault that seem off.

Do I believe Tara Reade? I don’t know because I wasn’t there; only she and Biden know the truth. But I do know that her story doesn’t make a lot of sense.

Her lack of memory on vital parts of the story, like when and when, bother me.

Her changing the story from touching her hair to penetrating her with his fingers bothers me.

Her friends and family who remember one thing, but then suddenly remember more bothers me.

Her praise in the years after the alleged assault for Biden and her sudden attacks on him when she became a Sanders supporter bother me.

The whole thing bothers me.