- Tara Reade, a former staffer in Joe Biden's Senate office, has accused the Democratic presidential nominee of sexually assaulting her in a congressional hallway in 1993.
- Now Reade's former neighbor Lynda LaCasse, a Biden supporter, tells Insider that Reade told her about the alleged assault in detail in 1995 or 1996: "This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it."
- A former colleague of Reade's also told Insider that Reade talked in the mid-1990s of being sexually harassed by her former boss in Washington, DC.
- The women have come forward just days after video emerged of a woman that Reade says is her mother calling into CNN's Larry King Live in 1993 to talk about her daughter's "problems" with a prominent senator.
- Biden has not addressed the accusations, but a campaign spokesperson says they are false.
- Insider is making this exclusive story available for free to non-subscribers. To read our full interview with LaCasse about Reade's allegations — and to support our journalism — please click here and subscribe.
I do not know what we are waiting for. Tara Reade is clearly telling the truth. It is time for Joe Biden to decide whether he wants to drop out and walk away quietly or whether we should lock him up! lock him up!
No one who has stepped forward has had as much evidence as Tara Reade has.
Mr. Biden is a rapist. And I am really rethinking Jill Biden. What kind of a woman stays married to a rapist? What kind of a doormat?
This is C.I.'s "Iraq snapshot" for today:
After Friday's snapshot posted, hours after, this was added to it:
Ryan Grim has a scoop at THE INTERCEPT:
In interviews with The Intercept, Reade also mentioned that her mother had made a phone call to “Larry King Live” on CNN, during which she made reference to her daughter’s experience on Capitol Hill. Reade told The Intercept that her mother called in asking for advice after Reade, then in her 20s, left Biden’s office. “I remember it being an anonymous call and her saying my daughter was sexually harassed and retaliated against and fired, where can she go for help? I was mortified,” Reade told me.
Reade couldn’t remember the date or the year of the phone call, and King didn’t include the names of callers on his show. I was unable to find the call, but mentioned it in an interview with Katie Halper, the podcast host who first aired Reade’s allegation. After the podcast aired, a listener managed to find the call and sent it to The Intercept.
On August 11, 1993, King aired a program titled, “Washington: The Cruelest City on Earth?” Toward the end of the program, he introduces a caller dialing in from San Luis Obispo, California. Congressional records list August 1993 as Reade’s last month of employment with Biden’s Senate office, and, according to property records, Reade’s mother, Jeanette Altimus, was living in San Luis Obispo County. Here is the transcript of the beginning of the call:
KING: San Luis Obispo, California, hello.
CALLER: Yes, hello. I’m wondering what a staffer would do besides go to the press in Washington? 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.
KING: In other words, she had a story to tell but, out of respect for the person she worked for, she didn’t tell it?
CALLER: That’s true.
King’s panel of guests offered no suggestions, and instead the conversation veered into a discussion of whether any of the men on set would leak damaging personal information about a rival to the press.
Tara Reade has accused Joe Biden of assault. Along with telling her brother and a friend in real time (both have verified they were told in 1993 when the assault happened), Tara had stated she told her mother who has since passed away. Now we have the above.
The allegations are not going away and Tara's case is only getting stronger.
Daniel Ponti (SLATE) explains:
A video that has recently come to light from 1993 appears to show the mother of Tara Reade, who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of sexual assault, calling the Larry King Show to discuss problems her daughter experienced while working for “a prominent senator.” The Intercept was first to report on the video and the conservative Media Research Group later quickly published the relevant clip. Reade then confirmed that it was her mother’s voice on the call. “I’ve been crying because I haven’t heard my mom’s voice in a few years. So it’s been a little emotional,” Reade told CNN. “I miss her. I miss her voice.” Reade’s mother died in 2016.
Liz Peek is a name familiar to the community when wowOwow was an active website (Women On the Web, was what the site was known on). She weighed in on Tara Reade this morning:
The liberal media has naturally tried to minimize coverage of the Reade accusation; she leveled the charge on March 25, but most major news outlets ignored it until April 12, fully 19 days later. Criticized over the delay, the New York Times’ editor Dean Baquet explained that the paper wanted to have enough information about the charge that readers could “understand” the story.
But the Times even edited its own story about Reade. It originally reported that, “The Times found no pattern of sexual misconduct by Mr. Biden, beyond the hugs, kisses and touching that women previously said made them uncomfortable.” In later editions it dropped the last (and most damaging) part of the sentence.
Baquet explained, “The campaign thought that the phrasing was awkward and made it look like there were other instances in which he had been accused of sexual misconduct.” Since when do newspapers run a story by a “campaign” for approval?
Nonetheless, the new video has given Reade’s allegations new legs. In part, that is because Joe Biden has a troubling history of inappropriately touching women – a record his backers ascribe to his “folksy” manner and old-fashioned “tactile” politics.
But, one also wonders whether Democrats are beginning to face up to what many have seen for months: Biden is not a strong candidate.
Daniel Molina (THE FLORIDIAN) observes:
In a recent interview with Vice President Biden, CNN’s Anderson Cooper discussed a wide array of topics, but one issue that was not addressed is the allegations aimed against him, This, Tara Reade says, made her lose respect for the journalist.
Speaking to Fox News, Reade expressed that “it’s shocking that this much time has passed and that he is an actual nominee for president and they’re not asking the questions.”
Reade added that Biden has “been on ‘Anderson Cooper’ at least twice where he was not asked.”
She further questioned, “if this were Donald Trump, would they treat it the same way? If this were Brett Kavanaugh, did they treat it the same way?”
Reade concluded that “it’s politics and political agenda playing a role in objective reporting and asking the question.”
CNN? They finally mentioned Tara on air Saturday. As Ava and I explained in "TV: Journalism isn't supposed to be melodramatic or provoke belly laughs," they did so because Ryan Grim reported Friday on the clip from the 1993 episode of CNN's LARRY KING LIVE where Tara's mother called in. But they forgot to note that Ryan Grim had reported on the clip and instead acted as though CNN had just suddenly discovered the clip all on their own.
Over the weekend #DropOutBiden began trending. Brandon D. Jones (ABC 14 NEWS) reports on Rose McGowan who has joined those calling for Joe to drop out:
The Charmed actress may perhaps not feel like a heavyweight who could inflict injury on a big political vocation. But because previous Biden staffer Tara Reade alleged that the prospect sexually assaulted her almost 3 decades ago, McGowan has turn into a 1-woman military contacting out the hypocrisy of Hollywood and media elites, in particular Alyssa Milano, who have backed the #MeToo and #TimesUp actions but are nevertheless supporting the presumptive Democrat nominee.
In her assertion, McGowan called out the mainstream media, women’s groups, LGBTQ information retailers, Oprah Winfrey, and even feminists like Gloria Steinem for their continued backing of Biden’s marketing campaign.
As support builds for Tara, the people notice not just the silence of the media and various celebrities but also the silence of Joe Biden himself. March 24th is when Katie Halper's interview aired with Tara. It's now April 27th and Joe Biden has refused to make any statement to the American people on this topic. He has hid behind campaign staff -- hid behind female campaign staff.
Joe hides a lot. He's got a lot to evade -- that includes the destruction of Iraq and the many dead. 34-year-old Diego Pongo was killed in Iraq March 8th. Pongo was a Gunnery Sergeant in the Marines.
WTHR reports:
Due to coronavirus restrictions on large gatherings, his family couldn't honor his life with a formal funeral or memorial.
After Diego’s brother Andres and his wife Andrea posted online asking for support from the community, the city showed up in a big way.
Thousands of people drove past the family's home to pay their respects to the fallen hero.
Numerous emergency vehicles cruised by the home to honor Sergeant Pongo's life, too.
Meanwhile, at Carnegie Middle East Center, Oula Kadhum offers:
The Iraq protests are not a flash in the
pan. Rather, they represent a historical turning point for a new
generation that has tired of government ineptitude, politicized
sectarianism, corruption, and an unequal society. As long as these
symptoms persist in Iraqi society, so will the protests. The movement
has been impacted by the Covid-19 pandemic however, though its spirit
continues in smaller sit-ins in Tahrir Square in Baghdad and smaller
gatherings in Nasiriyya and Basra. Those still holding the fort are
helping to sanitize public spaces and distribute provisions to those in
need. The message from these camps remains resolute: Once the threat
from the coronavirus is contained the revolution will be back bigger and
stronger.
Yet two threats represent the greatest
impediments to the movement’s survival. First, repression by the state
and militias continues, including the targeting of activists and
assassinations. Only recently a female activist was killed in Nasiriyya.
Second, the unknown longevity of the coronavirus will test the ability
of the movement to maintain its momentum. For now at least the protests
have certainly been stalled, but they most certainly have not been
silenced.
Even with the coronavirus, protests continue in Iraq. See "Editorial: Protests continue in Iraq" for more on that.
Meanwhile the third prime minister-designate this year, Mustafa al-Kadhimi, struggles as much as the previous two. MIDDLE EAST MONITOR ONLINE reports:
Shia parties in Iraq have rejected the ministerial nominations of Prime Minister-Designate Mustafa Al-Kadhimi, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed
reported on Sunday. The London-based website said that Al-Kadhimi had
agreed to at least 12 ministerial nominees proposed by the Shia party
officials.
According to one anonymous
Iraqi MP, the leaders of the Shia parties met on Saturday night at the
home of former Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki, and then told the
PM-designate that they rejected a lot of his nominees. The MP said that
they would nominate new candidates for each ministry from which
Al-Kadhimi can choose.
The same source
claimed that Al-Maliki, the leader of the State of Law Coalition, and
Hadi Al-Ameri, the head of Al-Fatah Coalition, are the “prominent
obstacles” in the efforts to form a new government in Iraq.
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