Biden to address Tara Reade allegation on Morning Joe

Joe Biden.
(Image credit: Saul Loeb/AFP via Getty Images)

Former Vice President Joe Biden will appear on MSNBC's Morning Joe on Friday, publicly addressing for the first time an allegation of sexual assault made against him by Tara Reade, a former aide in his Senate office.

Reade has claimed that in the early 1990s, when Biden was a senator from Delaware, he assaulted her while they were in the Senate building. Biden is now the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, and while he has remained silent on the matter, his campaign has pushed back against the accusation.

In a statement sent to reporters, Kate Bedingfield, Biden's deputy campaign manager and communications director, said he "firmly believes that women have a right to be heard — and heard respectfully. Such claims should also be diligently reviewed by an independent press. What is clear about this claim: It is untrue. This absolutely did not happen."

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Catherine Garcia, The Week US

Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.