Former Vice President Joe Biden will be asked about Tara Reade’s allegation of sexual assault against him Friday on “Morning Joe.”
Since Reade’s allegation became public in March up until the evening of April 29, Biden has faced 142 questions by interviewers, according to an analysis from The Washington Free Beacon.
The 142 questions span across several major networks and equals almost 4 hours. Not one question has been about Reade in the five weeks since she went public.
Reade says the sexual assault occurred in the early 1990s when she was a staffer for Biden, who was a Delaware senator at the time.
Biden will finally be directly asked about the allegation Friday during MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” the network confirmed in a tweet Thursday.
Tomorrow in a @Morning_Joe exclusive, former Vice President @JoeBiden joins @JoeNBC, @morningmika & @WillieGeist to respond for the first time to the recent allegation of sexual assault.
— MSNBC Public Relations (@MSNBCPR) April 30, 2020
“In the past two weeks alone, Biden has sat for at least an additional 97 minutes and 16 seconds of taped interviews, according to a Free Beacon analysis,” the Free Beacon wrote. “The sexual assault allegation never came up. MSNBC’s Mika Brzezinski asked Biden what he thought about President Donald Trump’s daily briefings.”
Legacy outlets finally began to cover the story with more energy after new information came to light that could corroborate Reade’s allegation.
Footage was uncovered on April 24 that appears to show Reade’s mother calling into CNN’s “Larry King Live” and discussing “problems” her daughter was having with an unnamed “prominent senator.” Reade’s former neighbor then told Business Insider in an article published April 27 that she was told about the assault in the mid-1990s.
Biden’s potential running mates have been asked about the sexual assault allegation. Many of them have been vocally supportive of Biden. Some of them have even repeated talking points reportedly distributed by the Biden campaign dictating how they should respond if asked about the situation.
Former Democratic Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams was pressed by CNN’s Don Lemon April 28. Abrams cited a NYT investigation, which the Biden campaign reportedly noted in its memo on how to address the accusation.
The NYT pushed back on these talking points Wednesday, saying that its investigation “made no conclusion either way” about the allegation. (RELATED: Second Hopeful VP Doesn’t Believe Biden’s Accuser)