For the past few weeks, Tara Reade’s allegation against presumed-Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has been complicated by mitigating factors like its age and lack of corroboration. Reade, a former Senate staffer, says that Biden sexually assaulted her in the mid-90s and that she only recalled telling her mother, brother and a friend at the time. Her mother has since passed away, but both her brother and her friend confirmed her story to podcaster Katie Halper. Biden has denied the allegations through his campaign.
The allegation first surfaced in March but now, evidence has emerged that supports Reade’s credibility. First, a clip from Larry King Live in August of 1993 — the month Reade resigned from Biden’s office — in which an anonymous woman called into the show to talk about “problems” her daughter was having a “prominent senator.” The woman says her daughter had considered going to the press but “she chose not to do it out of respect for him.”
Video??@ReadeAlexandra — is this your Mom’s voice? https://t.co/ospBhlKSvb pic.twitter.com/r5WsXJ2vQb
— Rich McHugh (@RichMcHugh) April 24, 2020
Reade has confirmed that the voice on the phone is her mother’s.
Since then, two more sources have surfaced. One is Lynda LaCasse, who was Reade’s neighbor in the mid-90s. She said that Reade had disclosed the details of her assault at the time. “This happened, and I know it did because I remember talking about it,” she told Business Insider.
The other source is Lorraine Sanchez, a former co-w0rker of Reade’s, who says she remembers Reade saying her former boss in Washington D.C. had sexually harassed her. “She was crying,” she told Insider. “She was upset. And the more she talked about it, the more she started crying. I remember saying that she needed to file a police report.”
Sanchez says she does not remember many details of what Reade said, but the ones she does appear to corroborate the one she told Halper.
LaCasse says that she’s a registered Democrat and still plans to vote for Biden, but wanted the world to know that she believes Reade is telling the truth. “I personally am a Democrat, a very strong Democrat,” she said. “And I’m for Biden, regardless. But still I have to come out and say this.”
Kate Bedingfield, Biden’s communications director referred Insider reporters to the campaign’s earlier statement. “Women have a right to tell their story, and reporters have an obligation to rigorously vet those claims. We encourage them to do so because these accusations are false.”
