Former Vice President Joe Biden’s wife said Tuesday it is time for people to “move on” regarding Anita Hill and the way she was treated during Justice Clarence Thomas’s 1991 confirmation hearing.
“I watched the hearings like most other Americans, and so I mean Joe said, as I did, we believed Anita Hill. He voted against Clarence Thomas,” Jill Biden said in an interview with NPR. “And as he has said, I mean he’s called Anita Hill, they’ve talked, they’ve spoken, and he said, you know, he feels badly. He apologized for the way the hearings were run. And so now it’s kind of — it’s time to move on.”
Hill accused Thomas of sexual harassment in 1991 and testified about it in front of the Senate Judiciary Committee. Thomas denied her allegations.
Former Vice President Joe Biden waves to supporters at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Construction and Maintenance conference on April 5, 2019 in Washington, D.C. (Photo by Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)
This comes after the former vice president called Hill before announcing his bid for the presidency in April. However, Hill told The New York Times she was not pleased with their conversation. “I cannot be satisfied by simply saying I’m sorry for what happened to you,” she said. “I will be satisfied when I know there is real change and real accountability and real purpose.” (RELATED: Biden On Anita Hill Hearings: ‘I Take Responsibility’)
The former senator said in late April he takes personal responsibility for Hill’s treatment during Thomas’s confirmation hearings. “I believed her from the very beginning, but I was chairman,” he said in a “Good Morning America” interview. “She did not get a fair hearing. She did not get treated well. That’s my responsibility. As the committee chairman, I take responsibility that she did not get treated well. I take responsibility for that.”
Democratic Minnesota Sen. Amy Klobuchar, a 2020 presidential candidate, said Joe Biden’s handling of Hill’s testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee will greatly impact his 2020 campaign.
Despite the criticism, the former vice president remains at the top of polls among 2020 Democratic candidates.
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