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Tara Reade and Truth
William Sundwick
Tara Reade worked briefly for then-Sen. Joe Biden in 1992-93.
She came forward in March with an accusation of a 1993 sexual assault by the
Senator, related in graphic detail on Katie Halper’s podcast. Only then did she
file a police report.
She claims that she made a formal complaint to the Senate
personnel office when it happened, but there is no record of it. One anonymous
friend has corroborated her story, insisting Tara told her just after it
happened.
Tara’s brother told the Washington Post that his sister had
complained of harassment when she worked for Biden, including unwanted (but not
necessarily sexual) touching by the Senator. After the initial interview, her
brother elaborated via text message, giving partial support to her assault allegation.
She claims she also told her late mother at the time, and there is a videotape
of her calling the Larry King show in August, 1993 with vague reference to her
daughter’s problems with the Senator’s office, but with no names or details
provided. Her brother said in his text, “Mom thought she should go to police.”
No other corroboration has been found, especially among any of Tara’s coworkers
in Biden’s office. Hers is the only such allegation ever made against Biden.
Other women have made claims of uncomfortable, unwanted
touching and invasion of personal space by Biden. He has acknowledged this,
promising to be “more sensitive” toward women as his presidential campaign has
progressed.
Reade has been a vocal Bernie Sanders supporter, as is Katie
Halper, where she first made the allegation.
So, where are we? Is the “#BelieveWomen” trope from the
Brett Kavanagh hearings now a political weapon to be applied selectively only to
opponents? Was there a secret payoff to fabricate this story? Given the lack of
substantive corroboration, what else could have motivated Reade? Too late to
boost Bernie!
That leaves the perennial #BelieveWomen question: if there
is no identified benefit to the accuser, why not assume she is telling the truth?
