All The Dark Allegations Ex-Staff Assistant Tara Reade Made Against Joe Biden

In 2019, Tara Reade accused President Joe Biden of inappropriate behavior. Speaking to The Union, Reade shared that her paths crossed with the then-Delaware senator in 1993 when she was a 20-something employed in his Senate office. She claimed that Biden touched her inappropriately on numerous occasions, and recalled a particularly alarming alleged exchange, "He used to put his hand on my shoulder and run his finger up my neck," she continued. "I would just kind of freeze and wait for him to stop doing that."

At one point in Reade's employment, she was asked to be a server at an event. However, she turned down the opportunity after learning that Biden had only offered it to her because of her body. It's worth noting that the President never told her about his supposed ulterior motives, and she heard of them through his staff. In a 2020 New York Times interview, Reade claimed that she wrote a complaint to the Senate to shed light on Biden's inappropriate behavior and mentioned them to his executive assistant, Marianne Baker, and two aides, Dennis Toner and Ted Kaufman. 

Reade alleged that her decision to speak up severely damaged her career because her job responsibilities were stripped to the bare minimum. Ultimately, Kaufman asked her to seek other employment. However, no U.S. political office would have her, so her political career ended then and there. When she spoke to The Union, she admitted that the experience made her feel like a disposable object.

When Tara Reade appeared on Kate Halper's podcast in March 2020, she accused President Joe Biden of sexual assault. Reade stated the alleged incident occurred when she met the then-Senator at the Capitol to give him a gym bag. Reade recalled that once Biden got her alone, he allegedly wasted no time in pinning her against a wall and "penetrated [her] with his fingers" (via Current Affairs). Then, the 2024 presidential hopeful asked Reade if she wanted to go someplace private, but she moved away from him.

The former staff member felt that her disinterest confused Biden as he said that he believed she was attracted to him. The confusion turned into anger as he supposedly told her, "You're nothing to me." The words hit Reade hard as she shared, "The thing that I remember most, almost more than the assault itself, was just being told I was nothing," she claimed. "And he was right. That's how people treated me off the street. And I have no platform. I am no one. And to him, I'm nothing."

Furthermore, Reade recalled that once the initial shock of the alleged assault wore off, she felt afraid because she had angered a powerful man like Biden. In her 2020 NYT interview, Reade revealed that the alleged sexual assault was the trigger for her standing up for herself and speaking to Biden's staff. However, she admitted that she never brought it up in their talk and instead focused on his other supposed inappropriate behaviors.

President Joe Biden vehemently denied Tara Reade's sexual assault allegations when he spoke on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" in May 2020. The President seemed baffled because he couldn't determine why his former employee would supposedly lie about him. While the former Vice President didn't speculate on her intentions, he stressed, "[Reade] has a right to say whatever she wants to say, but I have a right to say, look at the facts, check it out." Ultimately, Biden encouraged viewers to always believe women who claimed they had been sexually assaulted and urged people in power to conduct a thorough inquiry into these accusations for a fair solution.

In a written statement released the same day as the interview, Biden pointed out that Reade didn't have a copy of the complaint she allegedly filed against him in 1993. He urged the National Archives to share the alleged complaint with the media if it existed. However, the complaint's existence is questionable. In Reade's 2020 NYT interview, Marianne Baker, Dennis Toner, and Ted Kaufman claimed they never had a conversation with her about Biden's alleged inappropriate behavior.

It's important to know that Reade's claims have been backed by some people. Her brother, Collin Moulton, told The Washington Post that Reade had confided in him about Biden's inappropriate behavior around the time it happened. Likewise, Reade's former neighbor, Lynda LaCasse and former co-worker, Lorraine Sanchez, told Business Insider that they were aware of some of her claims in the 90s.