US Democratic presidential candidate Joe Biden has finally spoken about allegations of sexual misconduct brought by his former staffer Tara Reade, saying in his first statement on the claims that the incident “never happened.”
“I want to address allegations by a former staffer that I engaged in misconduct 27 years ago,” Biden wrote. “They aren’t true. This never happened.”
Public and media pressure had been mounting on Biden to address the allegations directly, given that only his campaign had commented on Reade’s claims until now.
Biden said that while the details of the allegations of harassment and sexual assault “are complicated,” it was clear that women who step forward with such claims “deserve to be treated with dignity and respect” and that they “should be heard, not silenced.”
But it is also true that women’s stories “should be subject to appropriate inquiry and scrutiny,” he added, claiming that Reade’s story has changed “growing record of inconsistencies” which should be examined by “responsible news organizations.”
