Article by Shelby Talcott in "The Daily Caller":
Former Vice President Joe Biden denied the allegation of sexual assault against him directly Friday on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe.”
Biden, the presumptive 2020 Democratic presidential nominee, was publicly accused by Tara Reade five weeks ago of sexually assaulting her in the early 1990s. The alleged incident occurred during Reade’s time as a former senate staffer for the then-Delaware senator.
Reade’s accusation was largely avoided by legacy outlets for a month before more evidence came to light that could corroborate her story. Since then, pressure has mounted for Biden to directly address the allegation, as he previously only denied it through a spokesperson.
“Morning Joe” announced Thursday evening that co-hosts Mika Brzezinski, Joe Scarborough and Willie Geist would be joined by Biden the following morning. Biden was expected “to respond for the first time to the recent allegation of sexual assault,” the network tweeted.
Biden denied the allegation in a written statement minutes before he was set to go on MSNBC to address the incident Friday.
The media’s avoidance surrounding Reade’s allegation allowed Biden five weeks of silence, The Washington Free Beacon noted in an analysis published April 29. Biden faced 142 questions in 19 interviews since Reade’s allegation came to light.
This equals nearly four hours of speaking time, many of which came on big networks. Biden was asked a total of zero questions about Reade’s sexual assault allegation, the Free Beacon reported.
Biden spoke at length with Brzezinski about the allegation. He said in Friday’s written statement that he would tell the Senate to look through the files from his time as a Delaware senator at the National Archives Record.
Reade allegedly issued a complaint against him in 1993, and Biden said that this complaint would be made public if found.
Brzezinski asked if he is “absolutely certain” that there is no record of a complaint from Reade about him.
“I am absolutely positive that no one I am aware of was ever made aware of a complaint, formal complaint made of or by Tara Reade against me at the time,” Biden said.
He explained that the documents “could be taken out of context” if fully released.
The video is at this link (apologies for not posting the video):
https://twitter.com/i/status/1256195709101015040
https://dailycaller.com/2020/05/01/joe-biden-sexual-assault-allegation-accusation-tara-reade-morning-joe-scarborough-mika-brzezinski/