Former Senate staffer Tara Reade says it’s time for journalists who have offered “radio silence” on her sexual assault accusations against Joseph R. Biden to ask Sen. Kamala Harris some tough questions.
Ms. Reade gave an exclusive interview Wednesday to the media watchdog NewsBusters about the mainstream media blackout of her 1993 claims regarding then-senator Biden.
“Journalists should be asking her pointedly why there was a smear campaign on me and why Kamala was so aggressive and assertive with [then-Supreme Court nominee Brett] Kavanaugh and here she knows there is a credible sexual assault accusation against Sen. Biden,” she told writer Scott Whitlock.
Ms. Harris, who has dominated the news cycle since it was announced that she is Mr. Biden’s vice presidential running mate, previously said that she believes the Democrat’s accusers and that they should be “heard.”
“You can’t ignore it,” continued Ms. Reade, a lifelong Democrat. “This tactic of smear and ignore [by the media] is not going to be effective with me. I will not be intimidated. I will not be silenced. … No one is paying me. It has literally cost me everything … By coming out, I lost a lot. But I don’t regret it.”
Mr. Biden has denied the claims throughout his campaign.
“They aren’t true,” the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee told MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” in May. “This never happened.”
Ms. Reade maintains that Mr. Biden sexually assaulted her in 1993.
“It was really devastating when [Kirsten] Gillibrand and Stacey Abrams and Hillary Clinton, all on the same day, just basically implied my story wasn’t true and they believe Joe Biden,” Ms. Reade told Buzzfeed News in April. “I can’t describe to you what that felt like. … They didn’t just say, ’Oh, we’re standing with Joe Biden until we hear more.’ They just discounted me. They marginalized me. They said they didn’t believe me.”
• Douglas Ernst can be reached at dernst@washingtontimes.com.
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