CNN failed to uncover footage from its own archives that could back up Joe Biden accuser Tara Reade’s allegations against the former senator.
Reade, 56, has alleged that she was forced out of her job as a Senate staffer for former Vice President Joe Biden, who was previously a Delaware senator. She has accused Biden of sexually assaulting her.
Reade told The Intercept that her mother called into CNN’s old show “Larry King Live” about the incident, and the publication obtained a transcript Friday that appeared to back up Reade’s claims. Media Research Center then uncovered the video of that August 11, 1993 phone call.
Reade told the Daily Caller that it is her mother’s voice.
WATCH:
#BREAKING: HERE is the video from August 11,1993’s ‘Larry King Live’ described by @TheIntercept (and Tara Reade) as allegedly featuring her mother calling in and alluding to Reade’s sexual assault claims against @JoeBiden (blog here by @ScottJW) https://t.co/fCgEqBnX7n pic.twitter.com/V5FGHskv56
— Curtis Houck (@CurtisHouck) April 24, 2020
CNN, the outlet that aired “Larry King Live” from 1985 to 2010, failed to uncover the footage from its own archives despite having a team of investigative reporters, Fox News reported on Saturday.
The network was slammed for its failure, especially after weeks of underreporting Reade’s allegation. CNN only published a story about the new unearthed video Saturday afternoon after facing criticism and following this Daily Caller report. (RELATED: Howard Kurtz Rips Media Outlets By Name For Not Covering Biden Accuser)
CNN briefly reported on the allegation weeks after it came out with an April 17 article framing the news as “Democrats grapple with questions about Tara Reade’s sexual assault allegation against Joe Biden.”
“It’s truly despicable that this footage existed and yet CNN failed to do its own due diligence within its own archives,” Curtis Houck, the managing editor of Newsbusters, said according to Fox News.
New York Post reporter Jonathan Levine pointed out CNN’s failure to adequately cover the allegations as well. He tweeted Friday that “Larry King may have had the biggest scoop of his CNN career” and noted it is “an open question whether his former employer will say a word about it.”
Larry King may have had the biggest scoop of his CNN career this evening … And it’s an open question whether his former employer will say a word about it
— Jon Levine (@LevineJonathan) April 25, 2020
Houck told Fox News that it was “shameful” CNN did not unearth the Larry King footage long ago. Media critic Jeffrey McCall also trashed the network in an interview with Fox News, calling it “journalistic misconduct.”
“That CNN couldn’t pull this clip out of their own archives, even after Reade mentioned it in a recent interview, seems to demonstrate that CNN just lacks hustle to investigate this story or just wants to keep the story buried,” McCall said according to Fox. “Either way, this comes off as journalistic misconduct.”
The CNN footage does not show Reade’s mother alluding to the actual alleged assault. It does show a voice that Reade says is her mother’s asking King advice on “what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington.”
Although her mother does not mention specifics about the incident, the phone call backs up Reade’s previous statements that her mother called into “Larry King Live” about her daughter’s experience on Capitol Hill.
“My daughter has just left there, after working for a prominent senator, and could not get through with her problems at all, and the only thing she could have done was go to the press, and she chose not to do it out of respect for him,” the woman asked, according to the video obtained by MRC.
Biden has denied the allegations against him through a spokesperson, The Intercept reported.
CNN did not respond to multiple request for comment from the Daily Caller.
Editor’s note: CNN published an article about the video that aired on their network following this article’s publication.