Former Vice President Joe Biden appears on MSNBC's "Morning Joe" on May 1, 2020. (Photo: MSNBC/Screengrab)
May 01, 2020
In both a written statement and an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden denied that he sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade in 1993, the first time the presumptive Democratic nominee has personally addressed the allegation in public.
"No, it is not true," Biden said on MSNBC. "I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn't. It never happened... The claims are false."
\u201cJoe Biden, asked on @Morning_Joe if he sexually assaulted Tara Reade:\n\n\u201cNo, it is not true. I\u2019m saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn\u2019t. It never happened.\u201d\u201d— MSNBC (@MSNBC) 1588334617
\u201cJoe Biden on past comments about believing women: "From the very beginning, I've said believing women means taking the woman's claims seriously...Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make...In the end, the truth is what matters."\u201d— Axios (@Axios) 1588335312
Biden's denial came as he faced growing pressure to address Reade's allegation that he cornered her in the halls of the U.S. Capitol building and penetrated her with his fingers, a claim that was corroborated by a former neighbor of Reade's in an interview with Business Insider earlier this week.
In a written statement posted to Medium, Biden called on the Secretary of the Senate to request that the National Archives identify and "make available to the press" any complaint filed by Reade.
Reade said she submitted a complaint about Biden to a congressional human resources office.
"There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be--the National Archives," Biden said. "If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there."
In reaction to Biden's denial, the women's group Time's Up Now, which advocates on behalf of sexual assault victims, said the former vice president's comments should be seen as a sign of progress but by "no means is the conversation about sexual assault and power in America over."
"We have reached a pivotal moment in our nation when candidates for president are accused of sexual assault," said Tina Tchen, the group's president and CEO, in a statement. "Today, Vice President Joe Biden sat down and directly addressed the allegation against him with the seriousness it deserves, something that the current president has never done."
"No longer can claims like this go ignored," added Tchen. "Biden needed to address Tara Reade's allegation today. We call for complete transparency into this claim and the multiple claims against President Donald Trump. As we go forward, American voters are entitled to a full understanding of all allegations of this nature. Women should be heard, treated respectfully, and have their allegations taken seriously."
Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, said that the #MeToo movement's demand for Biden to address the accusation and demonstrate leadership on the crucial issue of sexual assault and violence against women "is not in contradiction with our commitment to defeat Trump. It is, in fact, central to that effort."
According to Archila, "Those who are accused of perpetuating or enabling violence have a role to play in the effort to transform our society. They can model how to receive with empathy and circumspection the stories of individuals or communities who speak about the harm they have endured. They can model how to tease out from the story of one person the elements of our collective experience, and they can model willingness to take responsibility."
"This morning he spoke for the first time about the allegations by Tara Reade, and issued yet another blanket denial of the assault, without any reflections on how women, and survivors of all genders, are treated in our society," she said. "As someone seeking to govern the country, he has a responsibility to model how to hold the pain of survivors and speak about the reality of our collective experience, even as he denies the allegations against him. That is the role of a leader."
But while the accusations against Biden must be fully investigated, Archila said that with Trump in the White House, "Our country is at a moment of grave danger."
"We cannot afford to have four more years of Trump," she added, "and we will do everything necessary to defeat him in November."
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In both a written statement and an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden denied that he sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade in 1993, the first time the presumptive Democratic nominee has personally addressed the allegation in public.
"No, it is not true," Biden said on MSNBC. "I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn't. It never happened... The claims are false."
\u201cJoe Biden, asked on @Morning_Joe if he sexually assaulted Tara Reade:\n\n\u201cNo, it is not true. I\u2019m saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn\u2019t. It never happened.\u201d\u201d— MSNBC (@MSNBC) 1588334617
\u201cJoe Biden on past comments about believing women: "From the very beginning, I've said believing women means taking the woman's claims seriously...Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make...In the end, the truth is what matters."\u201d— Axios (@Axios) 1588335312
Biden's denial came as he faced growing pressure to address Reade's allegation that he cornered her in the halls of the U.S. Capitol building and penetrated her with his fingers, a claim that was corroborated by a former neighbor of Reade's in an interview with Business Insider earlier this week.
In a written statement posted to Medium, Biden called on the Secretary of the Senate to request that the National Archives identify and "make available to the press" any complaint filed by Reade.
Reade said she submitted a complaint about Biden to a congressional human resources office.
"There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be--the National Archives," Biden said. "If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there."
In reaction to Biden's denial, the women's group Time's Up Now, which advocates on behalf of sexual assault victims, said the former vice president's comments should be seen as a sign of progress but by "no means is the conversation about sexual assault and power in America over."
"We have reached a pivotal moment in our nation when candidates for president are accused of sexual assault," said Tina Tchen, the group's president and CEO, in a statement. "Today, Vice President Joe Biden sat down and directly addressed the allegation against him with the seriousness it deserves, something that the current president has never done."
"No longer can claims like this go ignored," added Tchen. "Biden needed to address Tara Reade's allegation today. We call for complete transparency into this claim and the multiple claims against President Donald Trump. As we go forward, American voters are entitled to a full understanding of all allegations of this nature. Women should be heard, treated respectfully, and have their allegations taken seriously."
Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, said that the #MeToo movement's demand for Biden to address the accusation and demonstrate leadership on the crucial issue of sexual assault and violence against women "is not in contradiction with our commitment to defeat Trump. It is, in fact, central to that effort."
According to Archila, "Those who are accused of perpetuating or enabling violence have a role to play in the effort to transform our society. They can model how to receive with empathy and circumspection the stories of individuals or communities who speak about the harm they have endured. They can model how to tease out from the story of one person the elements of our collective experience, and they can model willingness to take responsibility."
"This morning he spoke for the first time about the allegations by Tara Reade, and issued yet another blanket denial of the assault, without any reflections on how women, and survivors of all genders, are treated in our society," she said. "As someone seeking to govern the country, he has a responsibility to model how to hold the pain of survivors and speak about the reality of our collective experience, even as he denies the allegations against him. That is the role of a leader."
But while the accusations against Biden must be fully investigated, Archila said that with Trump in the White House, "Our country is at a moment of grave danger."
"We cannot afford to have four more years of Trump," she added, "and we will do everything necessary to defeat him in November."
In both a written statement and an appearance on MSNBC Friday morning, former Vice President Joe Biden denied that he sexually assaulted former Senate aide Tara Reade in 1993, the first time the presumptive Democratic nominee has personally addressed the allegation in public.
"No, it is not true," Biden said on MSNBC. "I'm saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn't. It never happened... The claims are false."
\u201cJoe Biden, asked on @Morning_Joe if he sexually assaulted Tara Reade:\n\n\u201cNo, it is not true. I\u2019m saying unequivocally it never, never happened. And it didn\u2019t. It never happened.\u201d\u201d— MSNBC (@MSNBC) 1588334617
\u201cJoe Biden on past comments about believing women: "From the very beginning, I've said believing women means taking the woman's claims seriously...Women have a right to be heard and the press should rigorously investigate claims they make...In the end, the truth is what matters."\u201d— Axios (@Axios) 1588335312
Biden's denial came as he faced growing pressure to address Reade's allegation that he cornered her in the halls of the U.S. Capitol building and penetrated her with his fingers, a claim that was corroborated by a former neighbor of Reade's in an interview with Business Insider earlier this week.
In a written statement posted to Medium, Biden called on the Secretary of the Senate to request that the National Archives identify and "make available to the press" any complaint filed by Reade.
Reade said she submitted a complaint about Biden to a congressional human resources office.
"There is only one place a complaint of this kind could be--the National Archives," Biden said. "If there was ever any such complaint, the record will be there."
In reaction to Biden's denial, the women's group Time's Up Now, which advocates on behalf of sexual assault victims, said the former vice president's comments should be seen as a sign of progress but by "no means is the conversation about sexual assault and power in America over."
"We have reached a pivotal moment in our nation when candidates for president are accused of sexual assault," said Tina Tchen, the group's president and CEO, in a statement. "Today, Vice President Joe Biden sat down and directly addressed the allegation against him with the seriousness it deserves, something that the current president has never done."
"No longer can claims like this go ignored," added Tchen. "Biden needed to address Tara Reade's allegation today. We call for complete transparency into this claim and the multiple claims against President Donald Trump. As we go forward, American voters are entitled to a full understanding of all allegations of this nature. Women should be heard, treated respectfully, and have their allegations taken seriously."
Ana Maria Archila, co-executive director of the Center for Popular Democracy, said that the #MeToo movement's demand for Biden to address the accusation and demonstrate leadership on the crucial issue of sexual assault and violence against women "is not in contradiction with our commitment to defeat Trump. It is, in fact, central to that effort."
According to Archila, "Those who are accused of perpetuating or enabling violence have a role to play in the effort to transform our society. They can model how to receive with empathy and circumspection the stories of individuals or communities who speak about the harm they have endured. They can model how to tease out from the story of one person the elements of our collective experience, and they can model willingness to take responsibility."
"This morning he spoke for the first time about the allegations by Tara Reade, and issued yet another blanket denial of the assault, without any reflections on how women, and survivors of all genders, are treated in our society," she said. "As someone seeking to govern the country, he has a responsibility to model how to hold the pain of survivors and speak about the reality of our collective experience, even as he denies the allegations against him. That is the role of a leader."
But while the accusations against Biden must be fully investigated, Archila said that with Trump in the White House, "Our country is at a moment of grave danger."
"We cannot afford to have four more years of Trump," she added, "and we will do everything necessary to defeat him in November."
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LATEST NEWS
'Endangering Every American's Health': 9 Former CDC Chiefs Sound Alarm on RFK Jr.
Their "astonishing, powerful op-ed," said one professor, "drives home what we are losing and what's already been lost."
Sep 01, 2025
Nearly every living former director or acting director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from the past half-century took to the pages of The New York Times on Monday to jointly argue that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "is endangering every American's health."
"Collectively, we spent more than 100 years working at the CDC, the world's preeminent public health agency. We served under multiple Republican and Democratic administrations," Drs. William Foege, William Roper, David Satcher, Jeffrey Koplan, Richard Besser, Tom Frieden, Anne Schuchat, Rochelle Walensky, and Mandy Cohen highlighted.
What RFK Jr. "has done to the CDC and to our nation's public health system over the past several months—culminating in his decision to fire Dr. Susan Monarez as CDC director days ago—is unlike anything we have ever seen at the agency, and unlike anything our country has ever experienced," the nine former agency leaders wrote.
Known for spreading misinformation about vaccines and a series of scandals, Kennedy was a controversial figure long before President Donald Trump chose him to lead HHS—a decision that Senate Republicans affirmed in February. However, in the wake of Monarez's ouster, fresh calls for him to resign or be fired have mounted.
This is powerful. Nine former CDC leaders just came together to defend SCIENCE.Maybe it’s time we LISTEN TO THEM—not the loud voices spreading MISINFORMATION.Science saves lives. Lies cost themwww.nytimes.com/2025/09/01/o...
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— Krutika Kuppalli, MD FIDSA (@krutikakuppalli.bsky.social) September 1, 2025 at 10:35 AM
As the ex-directors detailed:
Secretary Kennedy has fired thousands of federal health workers and severely weakened programs designed to protect Americans from cancer, heart attacks, strokes, lead poisoning, injury, violence, and more. Amid the largest measles outbreak in the United States in a generation, he's focused on unproven "treatments" while downplaying vaccines. He canceled investments in promising medical research that will leave us ill-prepared for future health emergencies. He replaced experts on federal health advisory committees with unqualified individuals who share his dangerous and unscientific views. He announced the end of US support for global vaccination programs that protect millions of children and keep Americans safe, citing flawed research and making inaccurate statements. And he championed federal legislation that will cause millions of people with health insurance through Medicaid to lose their coverage. Firing Dr. Monarez—which led to the resignations of top CDC officials—adds considerable fuel to this raging fire.
Monarez was nominated by Trump, and was confirmed by Senate Republicans in late July. As the op-ed authors noted, she was forced out by RFK Jr. just weeks later, after she reportedly refused "to rubber-stamp his dangerous and unfounded vaccine recommendations or heed his demand to fire senior CDC staff members."
"These are not typical requests from a health secretary to a CDC director," they wrote. "Not even close. None of us would have agreed to the secretary's demands, and we applaud Dr. Monarez for standing up for the agency and the health of our communities."
After Monarez's exit, Trump tapped Jim O'Neill, an RFK Jr. aide and biotech investor, as the CDC's interim director. Critics including Robert Steinbrook, director of Public Citizen's health research group, warn that "unlike Susan Monarez, O'Neill is likely to rubber-stamp dangerous vaccine recommendations from HHS Secretary Kennedy's handpicked appointees to the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices and obey orders to fire CDC public health experts with scientific integrity."
The agency's former directors didn't address O'Neill, but they wrote: "To those on the CDC staff who continue to perform their jobs heroically in the face of the excruciating circumstances, we offer our sincere thanks and appreciation. Their ongoing dedication is a model for all of us. But it's clear that the agency is hurting badly."
"We have a message for the rest of the nation as well: This is a time to rally to protect the health of every American," they continued. The experts called on Congress to "exercise its oversight authority over HHS," and state and local governments to "fill funding gaps where they can." They also urged philanthropy, the private sector, medical groups, and physicians to boost investments, "continue to stand up for science and truth," and support patients "with sound guidance and empathy."
Doctors, researchers, journalists, and others called their "must-read" piece "extraordinary" and "important."
"Just an astonishing, powerful op-ed that drives home what we are losing and what's already been lost," said University of Michigan Law School professor Leah Litman. "We are so incredibly fortunate to live with the advances [of] modern medicine and health science. Destroying and stymying it is just unforgivable."
'Brazenly Anti-Worker': Labor Day Reports Highlight Trump Attacks on Unions
"This is a government that is by, and for, the CEOs and billionaires," said AFL-CIO president Liz Shuler.
Sep 01, 2025
Although US President Donald Trump's administration likes to boast that he puts "American workers first," several news reports published on Monday document the president's attacks on the rights of working people and labor unions.
As longtime labor reporter Steven Greenhouse explained in The Guardian, Trump throughout his second term has "taken dozens of actions that hurt workers, often by cutting their pay or making their jobs more dangerous."
Among other things, Greenhouse cited Trump's decision to halt a regulation intended to protect coal miners from lung disease, as well as his decision to strip a million federal workers of their collective bargaining rights.
Liz Shuler, president of the AFL-CIO, told Greenhouse that Trump's actions amount to a "big betrayal" of his promises to look out for US workers during the 2024 presidential campaign.
"His attacks on unions are coming fast and furious," she said. "He talks a good game of being for working people, but he's doing the absolute opposite. This is a government that is by, and for, the CEOs and billionaires."
Heidi Shierholz, president of the Economic Policy Institute, similarly told Greenhouse that Trump has been "absolutely, brazenly anti-worker," and she cited him ripping away an increase in the minimum wage for federal contractors that had been enacted by former President Joe Biden as a prime example.
"The minimum wage is incredibly popular," she said. "He just took away the minimum wage from hundreds of thousands of workers. That blew my mind."
NPR published its own Labor Day report that zeroed in on how the president is "decimating" federal employee unions by issuing March and August executive orders stripping them of the power to collectively bargain for better working conditions.
So far, nine federal agencies have canceled their union contracts as a result of the orders, which are based on a provision in federal law that gives the president the power to terminate collective bargaining at agencies that are primarily involved with national security.
The Trump administration has embraced a maximalist interpretation of this power and has demanded the end of collective bargaining at departments that aren't primarily known as national security agencies, including the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Weather Service.
However, Trump's attacks on organized labor haven't completely intimidated government workers from joining unions. As the Los Angeles Times reported, the Trump administration's cuts to the National Park Service earlier this year inspired hundreds of workers at the California-based Yosemite, Sequoia, and Kings Canyon national parks to unionize.
Although labor organizers had been trying unsuccessfully for years to get park workers to sign on, that changed when the Trump administration took a hatchet to parks' budgets and enacted mass layoffs.
"More than 97% of employees at Yosemite and Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks who cast ballots voted to unionize, with results certified last week," wrote the Los Angeles Times. "More than 600 staffers—including interpretive park rangers, biologists, firefighters, and fee collectors—are now represented by the National Federation of Federal Employees."
Even so, many workers who succeed in forming unions may no longer get their grievances heard given the state of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).
As documented by Timothy Noah in The New Republic, the NLRB is now "hanging by a thread" in the wake of a court ruling that declared the board's structure to be unconstitutional because it barred the president from being able to fire NLRB administrative judges at will.
"The ruling doesn't shut down the NLRB entirely because it applies only to cases in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas, where the 5th Circuit has jurisdiction," Noah explained. "But Jennifer Abruzzo, who was President Joe Biden's NLRB general counsel, told me that the decision will 'open the floodgates for employers to forum-shop and seek to get injunctions' in those three states."
Noah noted that this lawsuit was brought in part by SpaceX owner and one-time Trump ally Elon Musk, and he accused the Trump NLRB of waging a "half-hearted" fight against Musk's attack on workers' rights.
Thanks to Trump and Musk's actions, Noah concluded, American oligarchs "can toast the NLRB's imminent destruction."
Trump Voter ID Threat Condemned as 'Unconstitutional'
"The Constitution gives this authority to the states and Congress, not you!" said the head of Democracy Defenders Fund, threatening a lawsuit.
Sep 01, 2025
US President Donald Trump continued his "authoritarian takeover of our election system" over the weekend, threatening an executive order requiring every voter to present identification, which experts swiftly denounced as clearly "unconstitutional."
"Voter I.D. Must Be Part of Every Single Vote. NO EXCEPTIONS!" Trump wrote on his Truth Social platform late Saturday. "I Will Be Doing An Executive Order To That End!!! Also, No Mail-In Voting, Except For Those That Are Very Ill, And The Far Away Military. USE PAPER BALLOTS ONLY!!!"
Less than two weeks ago, Trump declared on the platform that "I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we're at it, Highly 'Inaccurate,' Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES." He claimed, without evidence, that voting by mail leads to "MASSIVE VOTER FRAUD," and promised to take executive action ahead of the 2026 midterms.
Those posts came as battles over his March executive order (EO), "Preserving and Protecting the Integrity of American Elections," are playing out in federal court. The measure was largely blocked by multiple district judges, but the president is appealing.
Trump's voter ID post provoked a new threat of legal action to stop his unconstitutional attacks on the nation's election system.
"Go ahead, make my day Mr. Trump," said Norm Eisen, who co-founded Democracy Defenders Fund and served as White House special counsel for ethics and government reform during the Obama administration.
"We at Democracy Defenders Fund immediately sued you and got an injunction on your first voting EO," he noted. "We will do the same here if you try it again. The Constitution gives this authority to the states and Congress, not you!"
In addition to pointing out that Trump is "an absentee voter himself," Democracy Docket explained Sunday that "the US Constitution gives the states the primary authority to regulate elections, while empowering Congress to 'at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations.' The Framers never considered authorizing the president to oversee elections."
According to the National Conference of State Legislatures: "Thirty-six states have laws requesting or requiring voters to show some form of identification at the polls. The remaining 14 states and Washington, DC use other methods to verify the identity of voters."
Those laws already prevent Americans from participating in elections, according to the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University School of Law.
"Overly burdensome photo ID requirements block millions of eligible American citizens from voting," the center's voter ID webpage says. "As many as 11% of eligible voters do not have the kind of ID that is required by states with strict ID requirements, and that percentage is even higher among seniors, minorities, people with disabilities, low-income voters, and students."
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