Tara Reade did not include sexual assault or harassment accusations in her original Senate complaint against Vice President Joe Biden, she told the Associated Press Saturday.
“I remember talking about him wanting me to serve drinks because he liked my legs and thought I was pretty and it made me uncomfortable,” Reade told the AP. “I know that I was too scared to write about the sexual assault.”
Instead, Reade says “the main word I used — and I know I didn’t use sexual harassment — I used ‘uncomfortable.’ And I remember ‘retaliation.'” (RELATED: Former Biden Staffer Files Criminal Complaint With DC Police)
In this screengrab from Joebiden.com, Democratic presidential candidate and former U.S. Vice President Joe Biden speaks during a Coronavirus Virtual Town Hall from his home on April 08, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. (JoeBiden.com via Getty Images)
Reade says she made a complaint to the Senate personnel office after Biden allegedly penetrated her with his fingers in 1993, an accusation which he denies. Reade told reporters in 2019 that she had “chickened out” when going to file the complaint. It was previously unclear what she meant by the phrase, but she now says it referred to leaving out the assault accusation.
Biden has called on the Senate and National Archives to unearth the report, but it has not yet been discovered. Reade says she does not have a copy of the report, but that if found, it would corroborate her story by proving certain Biden staffers had lied about taking meetings with her following the alleged assault. (RELATED: ‘I Want The Same Equal Treatment’: Biden Accuser Tara Reade Tears Into Media, Women’s Groups, Democratic Politicians)
The former top Biden aides she says she met with are Ted Kaufman and Dennis Toner, both of whom have said they do not know Reade in interviews with the New York Times.
Kaufman told NYT: “I did not know her. She did not come to me. If she had, I would have remembered her.”
“It’s just so preposterous that Senator Biden would be faced with these allegations,” Toner told the publication. “I don’t remember her. I don’t remember this conversation. And I would remember this conversation.”