Court docs corroborate. Will Dems still defend Biden?
New court documents released last night corroborate the allegations against Joe Biden, raising two uncomfortable questions for House Democrats.
- How long will vulnerable Dems be allowed to get away with their silence on the case against Biden? Reminder: nearly all of them said we should “believe all women” and defended Dr. Ford in the Kavanaugh hearings.
- Will the Democrats, like Congresswoman Susie Lee, who found themselves brazen enough to speak up to defend Biden, now admit they were wrong and call for further investigation?
Either way, Democrats need to start answering.
In case you missed it…
Exclusive: 1996 court document confirms Tara Reade told of harassment in Biden’s office
The Tribune
Matt Fountain
May 7, 2020
https://www.sanluisobispo.com/news/politics-government/article242527331.html
A court document from 1996 shows former Senate staffer Tara Reade told her ex-husband she was sexually harassed while working for Joe Biden in 1993.
The declaration — exclusively obtained by The Tribune in San Luis Obispo, California — does not say Biden committed the harassment nor does it mention Reade’s more recent allegations of sexual assault.
Reade’s then-husband Theodore Dronen wrote the court declaration. Dronen at the time was contesting a restraining order Reade filed against him days after he filed for divorce, Superior Court records show.
In it, he writes Reade told him about “a problem she was having at work regarding sexual harassment, in U.S. Senator Joe Biden’s office.”
It appears to be the only written record that has surfaced from the time that substantiates Reade shared her account in the years following the alleged incident, though a former neighbor came forward last week about similar conversations she said she had with Reade in 1995.
The news came as Reade was preparing for the release of her first on-camera interview since the former vice president and presumptive Democratic nominee for president personally denied the allegations May 1 on MSNBC. Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly tweeted about the interview Thursday morning, calling it “a riveting exchange.” She did not indicate when it would be published.
In the filing dated March 25, 1996, Dronen testified that he met Reade in the spring of 1993 while the two worked for separate members of Congress in Washington, D.C.
Dronen wrote that Reade told him she “eventually struck a deal with the chief of staff of the Senator’s office and left her position.”
“It was obvious that this event had a very traumatic effect on (Reade), and that she is still sensitive and effected (sic) by it today,” Dronen wrote.
Dronen filed the record in response to a similar declaration written by Reade in support of her restraining order request, in which Reade described incidents of abuse throughout her life. In interviews with The Tribune and other media, Reade has identified herself as a domestic violence survivor and victim’s advocate.
Though the ex-husband disputed many statements Reade made in her declaration, he wrote at the time that the alleged incident in Biden’s office and others described in the document “color (Reade’s) perception and judgment” of her civil case.
Reade has recently said that in 1993, Biden pushed her up against a wall in a semi-private hallway, reached under her skirt, and digitally penetrated her with his fingers.