A number of those who crossed paths with Bidenâs accuser say they remember two things: She spoke favorably about her time working for Biden, and she left them feeling duped.
...
As part of an investigation into Readeâs allegations against Biden â charges
that are already shaping the contours of his campaign against a
president who has been accused of sexual assault and misconduct by
multiple women â POLITICO interviewed more than a dozen
people, many of whom interacted with Reade through her involvement in
the animal-rescue community.
A number of those in close contact
with Reade over the past 12 years, a period in which she went by the
names Tara Reade, Tara McCabe or Alexandra McCabe, laid out a familiar
pattern: Reade ingratiated herself, explained she was down on her
luck and needed help, and eventually took advantage of their goodwill
to extract money, skip rent payments or walk out on other bills.
The people quoted in this article
provided copies of past emails, screenshots of Facebook Messenger or
text exchanges with Reade, copies of billing invoices or court records
detailing their grievances or correspondence. POLITICO also reviewed
dozens of public records, including court documents, divorce filings and
Readeâs 2012 bankruptcy records.
The accounts paint a picture of
Readeâs life in the years leading up to her allegations, in which she
spoke often of her connection to Biden but also of troubles in her
personal life and a need for money. Sexual abuse victims sometimes offer
contradictory information about their alleged abusers, so her comments
do not necessarily refute her claims against the former vice president.
But they add weight to the evidence that she spoke positively about him
in the years before she accused him of digitally penetrating her in the
early â90s.
Reached by phone, Reade declined to answer specific questions and referred the matter to her attorney, Douglas Wigdor.
I suppose it would be politically incorrect to point out that, even if the accusations against Biden are taken at face value, it would show he believes no means no and stops.
You can only get a no when you ask...
"Are you ok with me pinning you against the wall and sliding a hand up your dress?"
I suppose it would be politically incorrect to point out that, even if the accusations against Biden are taken at face value, it would show he believes no means no and stops.
Earlier this year, Tara Reade claimed that the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee forced her against a wall and put his hands up her skirt when she worked as a staffer in his Senate office in the early 1990s. The narrative became instant red meat for Fox News, which has made the allegations one of its top stories across its cable and digital platforms, largely aggregating or riffing on reporting done by mainstream outlets while lamenting a supposed lack of media coverage of the story.
According to a transcript search via media-monitoring service TVEyes, the Reade accusations have been mentioned at least 289 times on the network since late March, when Reade first detailed them in an interview with leftist podcast host Katie Halper.
