One of the women who has accused former Vice President Joe Biden of inappropriate touching is not remotely satisfied with his response.
Lucy Flores, the former Nevada assemblywoman who said in March that Biden made her feel uncomfortable by touching her shoulders and kissing her on the back of the head in 2014, told Fox News that Biden joking about the allegations was "so incredibly disrespectful."
Biden in a speech delivered amid the controversy made light of the allegations, jokingly pointing out twice that he had obtained permission to hug someone. This came after a video in which Biden promised to adjust his behavior and be more mindful of people's personal space.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Flores told Fox News that Biden's jokes "demonstrated that the words that he said — that he was going to take this very seriously, that he was going to listen and he was going to learn — to me, that indicated that he didn't mean that at all if literally the next day he was joking about it."
Biden, who is expected to announce his 2020 presidential campaign this week, has said he regrets making the women who have accused him of inappropriate conduct uncomfortable but has declined to directly apologize, saying in early April, "I'm sorry I didn't understand more" but "I'm not sorry for any of my intentions" and "I'm not sorry for anything that I have ever done." Brendan Morrow
-
Trump picks conservative BLS critic to lead BLSspeed read He has nominated the Heritage Foundation's E.J. Antoni to lead the Bureau of Labor Statistics
-
Trump takes over DC police, deploys National GuardSpeed Read The president blames the takeover on rising crime, though official figures contradict this concern
-
Trump sends FBI to patrol DC, despite falling crimeSpeed Read Washington, D.C., 'has become one of the most dangerous cities anywhere in the world,' Trump said
-
Trump officials reinstating 2 Confederate monumentsSpeed Read The administration has plans to 'restore Confederate names and symbols' discarded in the wake of George Floyd's 2020 murder
-
Trump nominates Powell critic for vacant Fed seatspeed read Stephen Miran, the chair of Trump's Council of Economic Advisers and a fellow critic of Fed chair Jerome Powell, has been nominated to fill a seat on the Federal Reserve Board of Governors
-
ICE scraps age limits amid hiring pushSpeed Read Anyone 18 or older can now apply to be an ICE agent
-
Trump's global tariffs take effect, with new additionsSpeed Read Tariffs on more than 90 US trading partners went into effect, escalating the global trade war
-
House committee subpoenas Epstein filesSpeed Read The House Oversight Committee has issued a subpoena to the Justice Department for its Jeffrey Epstein files with an Aug. 19 deadline
